II of 1894 and the Madras Act No.
They companyld take up part time work or occupation after securing necessary permission from the companycerned Revenue authorities.
In the meanwhile the Tamil Nadu State Legislature passed the Act which is impugned in these petitions replacing the ordinance.
These Rules were applicable number merely to the village officers appointed after that date but also to those who had been appointed under the repealed Acts and under the Boards Standing order prior to December 16, 1970.
On December 1, 1968, the Governor of Tamil Nadu promulgated a Rule under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution providing that the Standing orders of the Board of Revenue applicable to number hereditary village offices shall apply to every holder of a village office to which the Madras Proprietary Estates Village Service Act, 1894 Madras Act No.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petition Nos 5880 82, 6176 A 77, 5921, 5922, 6220, 6426 27, 6355 56, 6264 70,6276, 6178 79, 6191, 1718 of 1980 and 220 22, 2113 of 1981.
The above Rules were, however, kept in abeyance by an order made on July 1, 1975 on receipt of representations from the village officers in regard to the fixation of the age of superannuation at SS years.
20 of 1968 .
II of 1894 or the Madras Hereditary Village offices Act, 1895 Madras Act No.
There was numberage of superannuation fixed in their case and they were number entitled to retirement benefits such as gratuity and pension.
Under Article 32 of the Constitution K K Venugopal, 6355 56 of 1980 In W P. Nos.
Pursuant to section 3 of the Madras Act No.
Ill of 1895 was applicable immediately before the 1st day of December, 1968 on which date the Madras Act No.
Immediately after the promulgation of the said ordinance, some of the village officers who were affected by it questioned its validity before this Court in Writ Petitions Nos.
The other companynected writ petitions came to be filed thereafter.
All village head men including those who belonged to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had to furnish security in the form of property or cash the estimated value of which was number less than half the amount of land revenue and loan demand of the village.
Lal Narayan Singh, Attorney General In W.P. No 5880180 M.R Banerjee, Addl.
On the same date, the Tamil Nadu Village officers Classification, Control and Appeal Rules, 1970 and the Tamil Nadu Village officers Conduct Rules, 1970 promulgated under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution by the Governor of Tamil Nadu came into force.
The said Act was brought into force with effect from December 1, 1968.
It provided for their appointment and remuneration and for the prevention and summary punishment of misconduct or neglect duty on their part and generally for securing their efficiency.
They, however, companytinued to be inapplicable to the city of Madras.
On May 17,1975, the Governor of Tamil Nadu promulgated the Tamil Nadu Village officers appointed under B.S. Os Service Rules, 1974 under the proviso to Rule 309 of the Constitution in respect of the village officers appointed prior to December 16, 1970.
They companyld number be transferred outside their district.
20 of 1968, the Governor of Tamil Nadu promulgated under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution the Tamil Nadu Village officers Service Rules, 1970 providing for the companystitution of the Tamil Nadu Village officers Service companysisting of i village headman, additional village headman, ii village karnam, additional village karnam and iii talayari and nirganti and the method of recruitment to the said posts.
e part time village officer means Village Headman including Additional Village Headman, Village Karnam including Chief Karnam and Additional Village Karnam or Triune Officer appointed under the Madras Proprietary Estates Village Service Act, 1894 Madras Act II of 1894 or the Madras Hereditary Village offices Act, 1895 Madras Act III of 1895 the Boards Standing orders the Tamil Nadu Village officers Service Rules, 1970 or any other rules made under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution or any other law, but does number include Grama Kuvalar, Grama Paniyalar and Pasana Kavalar By section 3 of the Act, the posts held by the part time village officers, as defined above, are abolished.
Consequently the said Rules were number applied to the holders of village offices who had been appointed temporarily or permanently under the two repealed Acts and under the Boards Standing orders before the date on which the said Rules came into force.
the Madras Act No.
When the person who would otherwise be entitled to succeed to a hereditary village office was a minor, such minor was being registered as the heir of the last holder and some other person qualified under the statutes in question to discharge the duties of the office was being appointed to discharge the duties of the office until the person registered as heir on attaining majority or within three years thereafter was qualified to discharge the duties of the office himself when he would be appointed thereto.
II of 1894 and the Madras Act No.
No period of probation was pres cribed after they were appointed.
20 of 1968 came into force.
6264 70/80 K Gargo, In W.P. Nos.
20 of 1968 repealing the above two statutes viz.
After the above decision, instructions were issued by the Madras Board of Revenue on March 12, 1962 to the effect that in respect of future vacancies in village offices governed by the Madras Act No.
During the period of leave, numberhonorarium was paid to them and during the period of suspension, numbersubsistence allowance was paid.
The Tamil Nadu Village officers Conduct Rules provided that the Tamil Nadu Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1960 as amended from time to time would apply to the village officers subject to the modification specified in rule 3 thereof which provided that the village officers being part time Government servants might take up part time work or occupation provided that I such part time work or occupation did number interfere A with their legitimate duties as village officers and 2 the previous permission in writing had been applied for and obtained from the Revenue Divisional officer companycerned if the work or occupation was companyfined to the charge village and from the District Collector companycerned if the work or occupation extended beyond the charge village.
The Village officers dealt with by this Act were i village munsifs, ii potels, monigars and peddakapus, iii karnams, iv nirgantis, v vettis, totis and tar dalgars and vi talayaris in ryotwari villages or inam villages, which for the purpose of village administration, were grouped with ryotwari villages.
6355/80 R. Rrishnamoorthy, Adv.
Since it was felt that the above two Madras Acts which companytained provisions providing for appointment to village offices on hereditary basis were violative of Article 16 of the Constitution in view of the pronouncement of this Court in Gazula Dasaratha Rama Raos case supra , the State Legislature passed the Madras Proprietary Estates Village Service and the Madras Hereditary Village offices Repeal Act, 1968 Madras Act No.
III of 1895.
Thereafter on October 9,978, the Tamil Nadu Village officers appointed under B.S.Os Service Rules, 1978 were issued fixing the age of retirement of the village officers at 60 years.
Solicitor General In W.P. No.
Under both these statutes, the village offices were companysidered as hereditary in character and the succession to all hereditary village offices devolved on a single heir according to the general custom and rule of primogeniture governing succession to impartible zamindaris in Southern India.
If the person registered as heir remained otherwise disqualified for three years after attaining majority, he would be deemed to have forfeited his right to office and on such forfeiture or on his death, the vacancy had to be filled up in accordance with the provisions of the statutes as if he was the last holder of the office.
In fact very rarely they were transferred.
S. Vaidyanathan, Vineet Kumar, Parthasarathi, A.T.M. Sampath.
T.N. In W.P. Nos.
The Madras Hereditary Village offices Act, 1895 Madras Act No.
From November 15, 1973 all the three sets of Rules which came into force on December 16, 1970, as stated above, became applicable to the village officers in the Kanyakumari district and the Shencottah taluk of the Tirunelveli district also.
V. Rangam, In all matters for the Respondents.
1718 6276/ 1980 for the Respondents.
The total number of posts abolished by the Act is 23,010 In Tamil Nadu, as in other parts of India, the village has been the basic unit of revenue administration from the earliest times of which we have any record.
The administration was being carried on at the lowest level by a chain of officers in regular gradation one above the other at the companymencement of the Christian era.
J. In these writ petitions, the petitioners who were holders of posts of part time village officers in the State of Tamil Nadu or associations of such persons have questioned the companystitutional validity of the Tamil Nadu Abolition of posts of part time Village officers ordinance, 1980 Tamil Nadu ordinance No.
The same system has been in vogue uptil number.
III of 1895 regulated the succession to certain other hereditary village offices in the Presidency of Madras for the hearing and disposal of claims to such offices or the emoluments annexed thereto for the appointment of persons to hold such offices and the companytrol of the holders thereof.
village accountants, village headmen and village watchmen or police officers in permanently settled estates, in unsettled palaiyams and in inam villages.
10 of 1980 hereinafter referred to as the ordinance and the Tamil Nadu Abolition of posts of part time Village officers Act, 1981 Tamil Nadu Act No.
III of 1895 the appointments should be made on temporary basis only following the procedure prescribed under the Boards Standing order No.
It is stated that in cases to which the above two statutes were inapplicable, provision had been made by the Standing orders promulgated by the Board of Revenue which were known as the Boards Standing orders for appointing village officers again generally on a hereditary basis.
The said Rules came into force on December 16, 1970 and they extended to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu except the Kanyakumari District and the Shenootah taluk of the Tirunelveli district and the city of Madras.
The headman who goes by various names such as monigar, potail, naidoo, reddy, peddakapu etc.
5880 82 of 1980 and 5921 of 1980.
6191 6426/80 , S.N. Kackar, In P. Nos 5921/80 220/81 and G.L. Sanghi, In W.P. No.
The Madras Proprietary states Village Service Act, 1894 Madras Act No.
They were appointed directly by the Revenue Divisional officer and against his order, an appeal lay to the District Revenue officer and then a revision to the Board of Revenue and a second revision to Government.
Of them, the first five only rendered service to Government.
6426/80 , L. M. Singhvi, In W.P. 6264/80 Mr. Laxmi Kant Pandey and S.S. Ray, In W.P. 6212 of 1980 for the Respondents.
II of 1894 of the Madras Act No.
Some of the other distinct features of the service companyditions of the village officers appointed under the Madras Act No.
II of 1894 dealt with three classes of village officers viz.
E The Judgment of the Court was delivered by VBNKATAR MIAH.
In Tamil Nadu, these functionaries were known as I headman, 2 karnan or accountant, 3 shroff or numberazar, 4 nirganti, 5 toty or taliary, 6 potter, 7 smith, 8 jeweller, 9 carpenter, 10 barber, 11 washerman and 12 astrologer.
1718/81 for the Petitioners.
It was enough if they were able to read and to write.
It was generally known as the borabaluti system ordinarily companysisting of twelve functionaries.
On August 24,1977, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu announced on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that the Government proposed to set up a Committee to .
3 of 1981 hereinafter referred to as the Act which replaced the ordinance.
Miss Lily Thomas, N.A. Subramanium, Naresh Kumar, Mahakir Singh and S. Srinivasan for the Petitioners.
D Dr. Y. S. Chitale, In W.P. No.
The Tamil Nadu Civil Services Classification, Control and Appeal Rules dealt with the disciplinary proceedings that might be instituted against the village officers governed by the them.
III of 1895 or the Boards Standing orders were that they were part time employees of the Government that the records maintained by them were allowed to be retained in their houses that there was numberattendance register and numberfixed hours of duty were prescribed in their case.
They were number companystituted into any distinct service, There was numberprovision for reservation of posts of village officers G for Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes and backward classes There was numberminimum general qualification prescribed prior to the year 1970 for persons to be appointed as village officers under the said statutes or the Boards Standing orders.
examine whether the posts of karnams companyld be dispensed with.
6212, 6427 5880 82/80 F.S. Nariman, In W.P. Nos.
The Fundamental Rules applicable to all other State Government servants, the Pension Rules and the Leave Rules were number applicable to these village officers.
