The Supreme Court held that a compulsory retirement order stating an officer had 'outlived his utility' casts a stigma and amounts to dismissal, violating constitutional protections against punishment without inquiry.
The appeal by the State was dismissed. The under-challenge order was restored.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
A
THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH
v.
MADAN MOHAN NAGAR
January 5, 1967
B (K. SUBBA RAO C. J., J.C. SHAH, S.M. SIKRI, V. RAMASWAMI
AND C.A. VAIDIALINGAM JJ.]
Civil S?rvice-Officer retired stating "outlived his service"-Whether casts a stignia, and a1nounts to puntsl11ne11t.
The respondent was compulsorily retired from service under article 465A, note (I) of the U.P. Civil Service Regulation, after be had comc pleted more than 25 years of qualifying service. The order of retirement stated that the respondent "haJ outlived hh utility". The responden~ challenged the order in the High Court. The High Court quashed the order. In appeal to this Court. the appellant contende~ that the reason that the respondent bad outlived bis utility did not show that the order of compulsory retirement amounted to an ordc·r of dismissal or removal because in every case of compulsory retirement it was implied that the D person had outlived his usefulness.
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HELD : There was no force in the contention.
The test to he applied is : coes the order of compulsory retirement cast an aspersion or attach a stigma to the officer when it purports to retire him compulsorily. In the present case the order did cast a stigma on the respondent. [336 G]
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Jagdish Mitter v. U11io11 of India A.I.R. [1964] S.C. 449. followed
Two tests are derived from Shayam Lal's case : the first is whether the action is by way of punishment and to find that out it is necessary that a charge or imputation against the officer is made the copdition of the exercise of the power; the second is whether by compulsory retirement the officer is losing the benefit he bas already earned as be does by F dismissal or removal. If the first test is applied in this case it is quite clear that the charge or imputation "that the respondent had outlived bis utility" was made the. condition of the exercise oi the power. [338 E]
Shyam Lal v. The State of Uttar Pradesh [1965) I S.C.R. 26 followed.
Abdul Ahad v. The Inspector General of Po/ic.c, U.P. A.I.R. (1965) All. 142. overruled.
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CIVIL' APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 997 of 1965. Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated. July 25, 1963 oftheAllahabadHigh Courtin Special Appeal No. 431 H of 1962.
S. V. Gupte, Solicitor-General, C. B. Agarwa/a and 0. P. Rana,. for the appellant.
J.P. Goyal and B. P. Jha, for the respondent.
334
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1967) 2 S.C.R.
E (
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Sikri, J. The respondent, Shri Madan Mohan Nagar, filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad for ·quashing the order of compulsory retirement dated July 28, 1960, passed against him. The order of compulsory retirement was in the following terms:
"I am directed to say that the Governor has been pleased to order in the public interest under Article 465A and Note(!) thereof of the Civil Service Regulations, the compulsory retirement with effect from September I, 1960 · of Sri Madan Mohan Nagar, Director State Museum Luck~ow who completed 52 years of age on July 1, 1960, and 2g years ar.d 3 months of qualifying service on 31-5-1960 as he has outlived his utility."
The learned Single Judge who heard the petition quashed the order on the ground that "Rule 465 of the Civil Service Regulations as amendeo hy the U .P. Go.vernment while providing a criterion for 1he guidance of Government when inflicting compulsory retirement on a government servant never .heless violates the guarantee of equality of opportunity in matters relating to employment under Article 16(1 )" of the Constitution. He further held that the order i!•? ting compulsory retirement on the petitioner was invalid because it was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice.
The State appealed and the Division Bench on appeal upheld the order passed by the learned Single Judge on the ground that the order of compulsory retirement was passed in violation of the provisions of art. 311 of the Constitution and was, therefore. ultra 1·ires. The State having obtained special leave, the appeal is now before us.
Before we deal with the arguments of the learned counsel for the appellant, we may give a few facts and set out Article 465(A) and Note(!) thereof of the Civil Service Regulation, as amended by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The facts, in brief, are that the respondent was first appointea in 1931 on one year's probation to the post of Custodian, Sarnath Museum, Banaras, under the Archaeological Department of the Government of India. In l'.139, he was posted to Mathura Museum as Curator, and he was appointed substantively to this post from January 5. 1941. Later, he was appointed on the recommendation of the Provincial Public Service Commission as Curator of the State Museum, Lucknow, on a scale of pay Rs. 250/- to Rs. 850/-. The post of Curator was upgraded to the po>t of Director, State Museum, Lucknow, in the U.P. Educational Service, Senior Scale, and the respondent was appointed to it. Thereafter the respondent continued in service as Director of State
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U. P •. STATE v. M. M. NAGAR (Sikri, /.)
335
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A Museum, Lucknow, until he was compulsorily retired by the order of the Government, dated JuJy.28, 1960, which has already been set out above. It is common ground that no enquiry as contemplated by Art. 311(2) was held.
The relevant part of Article 465A of the Civil Ser.vice Regulation is in the following terms:
"Government retains the right to retire any Government servant after he has completed 25 years qualifying service without giving any reasons, and no claim to special compensation on this account shall be entertained.
This right shall only be exercised by Government in the Administrative Department when it is in the public interest to dispense with the services of Government servant who has outlived his usefulness."
This learned Solicitor General, who appears on behalf of the appellant has urged that the fact that the impugned order of compulso.y retirement states the reason for compulsory retirement, namely, that the respondent had outlived his utility, does not lead D to the conclusion that the order amounts to dismissal or removal because in every case of compulsory retirement it is implied that the person who is compulsorily retired had outlived his usefulness. He refers to Shyam Lal v. The State of Uttar Pradesh('} and says that in that case it was implied that Shyam Lal was not fit to be retained in service. We are unable to read Shyam Lat's case(') in that manner because the Court expressly said at p. 41, as follows:
In the present case there is not only no question of implication but a clear statement appears on the face of the order that the repondent had crutlived his utility; in other words, it is stated that he was incapacitated from holding the post of Director, State Museum, Lucknow. The order clearly attaches a stigma to him and any person who reads the order would immediately nsider that there is something wrong with him or his capacity to work.
In our opinion this case is covered by the principle applied in H Jagdish Mitter v. Union of India (2 ). It is true that that was a case of a temporary servant, but that does not matter. The order (l) (19551 I S. C. R!26. (2) A. I. R. 1964 S.C.449·
(1967] 2 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
336
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in that case reads as follows:
"Shri Jagdish Mitter, a temporary 2nd Division Clerk of this office !laving heen found undesirable to be retained in Government service is hereby served with a month's notice of discharge with effect from November I, 1949." Gajcnderagadkar, J., as he then was, speaking for the Court, said:
"No doubt the order purports to be one of discharge and· as such can be referred to the power of the authority to terminate the temporary appointment with one month's notice. But it seems to us that when the order refers to the fact that the appellant was found undesirable to be retained in government service, it expressly casts a stigma on the appellant and in that sense must be held to be an order of dismissal and not a mere order of discharge."
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Later, he observed:
"It seems that anyone who reads the order in a reasonable way, would naturally conclude that the appc.lant was found to be undesirable, and that must necessarily impc>rt an element of punishment which is the basis of the order and is its integral part. When an authority wants to terminate the services of a temporary servant, it can pass a simple order of discharge without casting any aspersion against the temporary servant or attaching any stigma to his character. As soon as it is shown that the order purports to cast an aspersion on the temporary servant, it would be idle to suggest that the order is a simple order of discharge. The test in such cases must be: docs the order cast aspersion or attach stigma to the officer when it purports to discharge him? If the answer to this question is in the affirmative, then notwithstanding the form of the order. the termination of service must be held, in substance, to amount to dismissal.,.
It seems to us that the same test must apply in the case of compulsory retirement, namely: docs the order of compulsory retirement cast an aspersion or attach a stigma to the officer when it purports to retire him compulsorily? In '.he present case there is no doubt that the order does cast a stigma on the respondent. Mr. Gupte relies on T. G. Shil'ac/zarana Singh 1•. State of Mysore('). But this case docs not assist him because it does not appear that the order in that case contained any stigma, and under Ruic 285 of the Mysore Civil Service Ruic,, 1958, retirement
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(I} A.l.R. 1965 S. C. 280.
U. P. STATE v. M. M. NAGAR (Sikri, /.)
337
{1967] 2 S.C.R.
338
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
Similarly, in Balakotaih v. The Union of India(') in Rule 3 of the Railway Services (Safeguarding of National Security) Rules, 1949, dealing with compulsory retirement, the proviso provided that "a member of the Railway Service shall not be retired or have his service so tenninated unlt'Ss the competent authority is satisfied that his retention in public sericc is prcjudical to national security, and unles,, where the competent authority is the Head of a Department, the prior approval of the Governor-General has been obtained." In this case also it does not appear that the order terminating the services contained any stigma on the public servant concerned.
In. Da/ip Singh v. State of Punjab(2) the order read as follows:
"His Highness the Rajpramukh is pleased to. retire from service Sardar Dalip Singh, Inspector General of Police, Pepsu (on leave) for administrative reasons with effect from the 18th August 1950."
It was held that the order did not amount to dismissal or removal from service within the meaning of art. 311(2) ofthe Constitution. The Court derived two tests from Sh yam IA/' s case(') and formulated them as follows: the first is whether the action is by way of punishment and to find that out the Court said that it was necessary that a charge or imputation against the officer is made the condition of the exercise of the power; the second is whet'ier by compulsory retirement the officer is losing the benefit he has already earned as he does by dismissal or removal. If the first test is applied in this case it is quite clear that the charge or imputation "that the respondent had outlived his utility" was made the condition of the exercise of the power.
The learned Solicitor General also brought to our notice the decision of the Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Abdul Ahad v. The Inspector General of Police, U.P.(4) The decision certainly helps him, and as a natter of fact, the Full Bench overruled the judgment of the Division Bench under appeal. But, with respect, we arc unable to agree with the conclusion that even if the order of compulsory retirement recites the fact that the public servant had outlived his utility, it would not amount to a punitive order. The Full Bench was of the view that "compulsory retirement will always be on the ground that he can no longer render useful service. The position certainly does not become worse because
(I) (115~] S.C.R. !052
(2) 11961) I S.C.R. 88.
(3) [1955] I S.C.R. 26.
(4) A.I.R. 1965 All. 142.
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U. P. STATE v. M. M. NAGAR (Sikri, /.)
339
A what is implied is expressed." We are unable to agree that the position does not become worse because a stigma is attached expressly.
We may say thi.t the question whether Article 465-A, note (1 ), violates art. 311 of the Constitution was not argued before us and we say nothing about it.
In the result the appelll fails and is dismissed with costs.
Y.P.
Appeal dismissed.
3 issues framed by the court
Whether a compulsory retirement order stating an officer has outlived his utility casts a stigma and amounts to removal or dismissal.
Whether the requirement that an officer has outlived his utility amounts to a charge or imputation constituting punishment under Article 311.
Whether the phrase 'outlived his utility' attached a stigma to the officer in a manner comparable to dismissal.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Jagdish Mitter v. Union of IndiaFollowed¶14
Jagdish Mitter v. Union of India A.I.R. [1964] S.C. 449 · Who else cites this
Shayam Lal v. The State of Uttar PradeshFollowed¶16
Shayam Lal v. The State of Uttar Pradesh [1965] I S.C.R. 26 · Who else cites this
Abdul Ahad v. The Inspector General of Police, U.P.Overruled¶17
Abdul Ahad v. The Inspector General of Police, U.P. A.I.R. (1965) All. 142 · Who else cites this
1 provisions across 1 enactments
State of Uttar Pradesh
Madan Mohan Nagar
K. Subba Rao
J.C. Shah
S.M. Sikri
V. Ramaswami
C.A. Vaidialingam
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
