9911796707
TMI Blog1984 (2) TMI 352X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... This appeal by special leave is preferred against the judgment of the High Court. The appellant was enrolled as an advocate on December 14, 1951. In response to a notification inviting applications for the purpose of recruiting members of the Bar directly as District Judges under Rule 5 (2) (i) (b) of the Rules, the appellant made an application for considering his case also for recruitment as a District Judge. Ultimately five persons were selected and appointed as Assistant Judges by notification issued on January 2, 1967 and the appellant was one of them. All of them were first posted as Assistant Judges as per the proviso to Rule 5 (2) (i) (b) of the Rules. On February 19, 1973, the appellant was appointed to officiate in the cadre of District-Judges. He was confirmed as a District Judge with effect from August 1, 1975 as per notification No. A 1274/75 dated December 9,1975. The seniority of the appellant in the cadre of District Judges was fixed on the basis of his actual appointment as District Judge in April, 1973. The first contention of the appellant is that on a true construction of Rule 5 (2) (i) (b) of the Rules, he should be deemed to have entered the cadre of D ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed as Assistant Judges, and (b) on the recommendation of the High Court from members of the Bar who have practised as Advocates or Pleaders for not less than seven years in the High Court, or Courts subordinate thereto: Provided that persons recruited at the age of not more than forty-five years, fifty years in the case of a person belonging to a community recognised as backward by Government for the purposes of recruitment shall first be appointed to work as Assistant Judge for such period as may be decided by Government on the merits of his case on the recommendations of the High Court before he is appointed as a District Judge: Provided further that ordinarily the proportion of posts filled in by promotion, under clause (a) and those by appointment from members of the Bar under clause (b) shall be 50: 50. It may be noted here that there is no separate cadre of selection grade District Judges or of Inspecting District Judges referred to in the Rules which are framed under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution. The scale of pay of District Judges prior to July 1, 1962 was ₹ 900-50- 1000-60-1600-50-1800. On October 21, 1963 on the recommendation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the number of selection grade posts was increased by five. Thus there were in all six posts of selection grade District Judges who could draw salary at the pay scale attached to it. Consequent upon the revision of pay scales of officers of the cadre of the Indian Administrative Service the State Government modified the pay scale of the selection grade District Judges with effect from January 1, 1973 by the resolution dated August 21, 1975, the relevant part of which reads thus: Resolution: Government is pleased to direct that the revised Selection Grade I.A.S. pay scale of ₹ 2000-125/2-2250 should be made applicable to the Selection Grade District Judges with effect from 1-1- 1973. 2. Government is also pleased to direct that District Judges in the Selection Grade posts, should be allowed to draw special pay, if any, attached to the post held by them, subject to the condition that pay plus special pay does not exceed ₹ 2450/-. There was, however, no other alteration in the conditions of service relevant to the subject of selection grade District Judges. In so far as the Inspecting District Judges are concerned, it is seen that the specific cas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n dated 23rd September, 1969 and the earlier the Resolution dated 21st October, 1963 had sanctioned the posts of District Judges in the Selection Grade. By the same Resolution additional posts of Joint Judges Were also sanctioned. It appears from the affidavit filed by the respondents that scheme for conducting the surprise inspection of the courts in the State outside the Greater Bombay was introduced in the year 1969 with the following objects. 1. Prevention, detection and rooting out the corruption from courts and their administrative offices 2. Enforcement of discipline and punctuality among Judges and staff and generally ensuring that the allocated work both judicial and administrative is efficiently done and delay in disposal is eliminated. 3. Ensuring strict observance of civil and criminal manuals. 4. Checking of registers and accounts and ensuring that they are properly and punctually maintained, and 5. Ensuring the welfare of Judges and the staff including the provision of suitable healthy and sanitary conditions in courts, adequate housing accommodation for the Judges and the staff, and generally towards providing conditions of service with i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the order of seniority of the person in the cadre of District Judges. Since no separate cadre is created of judicial officers who are asked to do the work of inspection under the scheme, no separate rules are framed, but guidelines are laid down by the High Court. Similarly guidelines are laid down for awarding the selection grade to the District Judges and, normally all the 5 Inspecting District Judges and the Registrar are placed in the cadre of Selection Grade District Judges unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. It is then stated in the affidavit of the respondents that the petitioner's case was considered on four occasions between 1979 to 1981 for being assigned this inspection work and for being placed in the selection grade but he has not been found suitable. The infirmities noticeable in the above passage are these: The High Court has failed to notice that the creation of the posts of five Inspecting District Judges had nothing to do with the sanctioning of selection grade pay scale for District Judges. While the selection grade pay scale was sanctioned for six posts of District Judges by the two Government Resolutions dated October 21, 1963 and July ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... need for going through the process of selection to sanction selection grade pay scale. We have already shown that the selection grade District Judges are only those who draw pay in pay scale of ₹ 1800-100-2000 for which no promotion is contemplated and that mere posting as an Inspecting District Judge by itself does not make an officer so posted superior to other District Judges. The true legal position is that while the first six persons in the seniority list of District Judges based on the length of continuous officiation in the cadre of District Judges can be recipients of salary in the selection grade pay scale, the posts of Inspecting District Judges and of the Registrar need not necessarily be held by them. When it is held that the selection grade District Judges do not constitute a separate cadre, the High Court cannot in exercise of its general powers of control under Article 235 of the Constitution without the increment beyond ₹ 1800 in the selection grade pay scale unless there is a rule or an executive instruction which authorises it to do so. As mentioned earlier, the selection grade post is not a post to which promotion has to be made nor is there any e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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