Service Of CNI Bishop Not A Personal Service: Calcutta HC [Read Judgment]

The Calcutta High Court has held that the service of a Bishop of the Church of North India (CNI), who had challenged his superannuation, is not a personal service and, therefore, cannot be held to be a contract not specifically enforceable under the Specific Relief Act. "Although the Bishop is selected on the basis of certain special criteria from a pool of Presbyterians, it is a common order of the day to choose employees, whatever may be their position in the hierarchy of an institution, from a pool of people having certain qualifications. Competence levels vary from employee to employee, as between one Bishop and another, but the same cannot be a decisive factor in attributing a personal ingredient to the post of the Bishop. The nature of job performed by the Bishop is thus not a 'personal service' insofar as the present dispute is concerned," held Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya. The court said so while dismissing an application moved by the Church of North India (CNI) in a suit filed by Rt Reverend Ashoke Biswas, wherein he had challenged his superannuation despite his request for extension and argued that the relationship between the Bishop and the Church is not a "master‐servant" relationship. It is to be noted that the Bishop's case for an extension of service for one year with effect from August 19, 2017, was recommended to the Executive Committee of the CNI Synod by the Appraisal/Review Committee. Under the same agenda, it was recorded in the minutes that the age of superannuation of CNI Bishops and some others, were extended to 68 years across the board. No exception was made for Bishops working on an extension. However, by a letter dated August 22, 2018, the Synod of CNI intimated to all members of the Executive Committee and others concerned that the extended term of the opposite party expired on August 18, 2018, since the Synod did not receive any request for a further extension from Biswas. He argued that there was no scope or requirement of asking for, or grant of, such extension, as erroneously recorded in the letter dated August 22, 2018, in view of the specific decision , as reflected from the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Synod, to extend the tenure of service universally to 68 years. On February 5, 2019, the Sixth Bench, City Civil Court at Calcutta, dismissed the application of the Church for rejection of the plaint. Before the high court, the Church argued that the suit was barred by Section 14(1)(b) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 as it sought specific performance of a contract of employment of personal nature in the garb of a declaratory suit. According to the Specific Relief Act, 1963, Section 14(b) a contract which runs into such minute or numerous details or which is so dependent on personal qualifications of volition of the parties, or otherwise from its nature is such, that the court cannot enforce specific performance of its material terms, cannot be specifically enforced. The Church relied on several documents to press that the service of the Bishop was personal in nature and that the nature of his post was a service coming within the ambit of a "master‐servant" relationship or an employment arising from a contract of personal nature and therefore covered under Section 14(b) of the Specific Relief Act. It relied on the letter of appointment issued by the CNI to Biswas which used the terms "appointment" "subject always to the constitution of the said Church" and the post of Bishop was referred to as an "office". It also relied heavily on various clauses of the constitution of the CNI, accepted and adopted at the second ordinary meeting of the Synod held on July 9‐13, 1974, and containing the service rules governing the employees including the Bishops, and said Section IV, clause 14(a) of the constitution, which provides that the Synod shall arrange for the election, appointment, transfer, discipline, suspension, termination of services and retirement of Bishops and Assistant Bishops and when various clauses are read together, shows that the Bishop is nothing but an employee of the Church and is governed by the terms and conditions of a contract for personal service. Biswas, on the other hand, contended that a Bishop is elected under the constitution of CNI and the relationship between the Bishop and the Church is not a "master‐servant" relationship. He argued that there was no scope for him to request for extension of service after the executive committee recorded that the age of superannuation of CNI Bishops and some others were extended to 68 years across the board. Relying on his appointment letter dated June 1, 2008, wherein it was mentioned that Biswas had been appointed as Bishop following an election and the powers conferred on him would always be subject to the constitution of the CNI, Biswas argued that the office of the Bishop is...

Service Of CNI Bishop Not A Personal Service: Calcutta HC [Read Judgment]

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HC says contract can be enforced under Specific Relief Act

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