Labour & Service
Can't Suffer For Official Lapse: Orissa High Court Backs Reinstatement Of Employee Removed For Being Minor During Appointment
The Orissa High Court has recently upheld an order of Administrative Tribunal reinstating a female employee who was removed from service on the ground that she was a minor at the time of appointment, while the minimum eligibility age was 18 years.For confirming the impugned order, the Division Bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad and Justice Chittaranjan Dash reasoned –“In the matter...
“Long-Settled Service Rights”: J&K&L High Court Grants Pensionary Relief To Officers Litigating Since 1986 Over Seniority
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that repeated attempts by the Government and Police Headquarters to reframe and revise seniority lists decades later amounted to administrative patchwork and could not be used to deny long-standing service rights of officers who had been litigating since 1986.A Division Bench comprising Justice Rajnesh Oswal and Justice Rahul Bharti...
Disciplinary Orders Must Show 'Real Consideration' Of Employee's Defence, Not Mechanically Recite “Considered”: Rajasthan High Court
The Rajasthan High Court has held that merely reciting in the disciplinary order and the appellate order that the records have been “considered” could not be treated as a valid and objective consideration in the legal sense, and was an empty formality. The bench of Justice Anand Sharma further held that since penalty order and appellate order caused serious prejudice to the...
Employer Can't Revise Service Book Post-Retirement To Cover Up Own Lapses: J&K&L High Court Quashes Recovery From Retiree
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that an employer cannot revise service records post-retirement to the prejudice of an employee in order to cover up its own lapses, especially when the employee was not responsible for maintaining the service book and the issue stood settled by an earlier judgment of the Court.The Court was hearing a writ petition challenging the revision...
'Penal Liability Doesn't Pass On To Legal Heirs': J&K&L High Court Quashes Suspension Of Employee Over Father's Corruption Case
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has held that the suspension of a government employee solely on the basis of criminal proceedings pending against his father is impermissible in law, as penal liability cannot be inherited by legal heirs.The Court was hearing a writ petition challenging an order suspending a Class-IV employee of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly...
Reserved Category Candidate Scoring Higher Than General Category Cut Off Must Be Included In Open Post : Supreme Court
The Supreme Court recently observed that a reserved-category candidate who scores higher than the cut-off marks for General Category shall be eligible to hold an unreserved vacant post."It is now a settled proposition of law that a candidate belonging to reserve category who has scored marks higher than the cut off marks for the General Category is to be treated as having qualified against...
Wait-Listed Candidate Has No Vested Right To Appointment After Expiry Of Wait List : Supreme Court
The Supreme Court held that in public employment, wait-listed candidates do not acquire any vested or automatic right to appointment once the statutory validity of the waiting list has expired. “…the law seems to be well-settled that when a candidate included in a select/merit list has no indefeasible right of appointment, it would be too far-fetched to think that a candidate in...
Remedy Lies Before CAT: J&K&L High Court Rejects Over-Age SI Aspirants' Plea; Cites Rigours Of Administrative Tribunals Act
Delineating the limits of judicial review in recruitment matters, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has dismissed two clubbed writ petitions seeking age relaxation for participation in a fresh recruitment process for the post of Sub-Inspector in the J&K Police. Justice Rahul Bharti held that the writ petitions were "fated to suffer an outright dismissal" as the petitioners...
'Nata Vivah' Recognised As Marriage: Rajasthan High Court Directs Family Pension To Deceased Govt Employee's Wife
Considering that Nata Vivah is also considered as a form of marriage in rural areas of Rajasthan, the Rajasthan High Court has directed grant of family pension to a woman, who performed the customary marriage with the deceased government employee.For context, Nata Vivah is a practice prevalent in some of the rural areas of Rajasthan where after death or separation from existing husband,...
It Is Too Late To Put The Genie Back In The Bottle
The Indian judiciary through various judgments held that the declaration of a central law as unconstitutional by a High Court is binding all over India and not just within the territorial jurisdiction of that High Court. Despite this, Parliament has, quite incredulously, chosen to bring back a provision which was already declared unconstitutional, not by a constitutional amendment, but by simply changing the label of the identical provision under a new statute. Is it possible for Parliament to...
States Cannot Prescribe Qualifications Beyond Those Laid Down In Union Law: Supreme Court
When a field prescribing a qualification for a public post is occupied by the Union, then it is impermissible for the States to impose additional qualifications, observed the Supreme Court. A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi heard the batch of appeals concerning the challenge to the power of the State Government to prescribe the essential qualifications for the position of...