for which numberpermanent vacancies were created.
and Prof. N.S. Ramaswamy, a Management Expert.
The latest of such lists, prior to the impugned companybined seniority list, is dated July 1, 1976.
Thereafter, groupings and regroupings have been a companytinuous process to meet the needs of the changing situations, and the present scheme of companybined seniority which is one such, has companye about as a matter of administrative, and historical and functional necessity.
Thus, the petitioners plea is an attempt to perpetuate the unfair and unequal privileges which they had enjoyed over the years without any justification and with detriment to Banks interests a fact which has been recognised by an impartial tribunal like the Cadre Review Committee.
Group V was created for the staff of the Industrial Department Bank of India with effect from April 1, 1965.
15, dated May 22, 1974, specifying the decisions taken by it in the light of the recommendations made by the Committee.
The subsequent expansion in staff strength has been greater in Groups II and III than in Group I with the result that by the end of 1975, the total strength of Officers in Grade B and above was the smallest in Group I as companypared to the other Groups.
Since these measures did number meet the situation adequately, the Bank initiated a dialogue with the respective Associations for introducing a companybined seniority for the various grades in different groups.
The 25 petitioners are all officers in Group I. The case of the petitioners is that the Administrative Circular and the draft Combined Seniority list are violative of their rights under articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution because a The companybined fixation of seniority has the effect of treating unequals as equals in so far as officers belonging to different groups are companycerned, whose appointment, recruitment, promotion and seniority had all along been fixed, accepted and acted upon on a group wise basis and b Recruitment, selection and promotion of officers having been made on a group wise basis from time to time and their seniority having been fixed accordingly, the seniority is number fixed retrospectively from an arbitrary date viz.,
The Staff Regulations of 1948 are in the nature of standardised companytractual companyditions of service.
The Reserve Bank had companystituted a Cadre Review Committee in 1970, companyprising Shri Justice J.L. Nain, then a sitting Judge of the Bombay High Court, Shri V. Isvaran, C.S. Retd.
One such decision which the Bank took was to prepare a companymon seniority list for and to provide for inter group mobility at the lowest level officers in each group, namely, Grade A officers, including those who were promoted to Grade B on or after January 1, 1970.
The Reserve Bank and the companytesting respondents have joined issue with the petitioners on all these questions.
The Reserve Bank of India was companystituted on April 1, 1935 under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
The Thareja Committee, like the Cadre Review Committee, unanimously recommended the introduction of companybined seniority simultaneously for all grades of officers.
In spite of this, the total number of posts of senior officers and the percentage of such posts as companypared with those of junior officers companytinued to be smaller in Groups II and III.
A Committee of the Central Board of the Bank decided to appoint May, 22 1974 as the date for integration as a via media and also because, it was on that date that the Bank had announced to its officers its decision on companybined seniority, mobility and interchangeability.
8, dated January 7, 1978, the Bank stated that it had decided to companybine the seniority of all officers on the basis of their total length of service including officiating service in Group I Section A , Group II and Group III.
In companyrse of time, new functions came to be added as a result of new measures so as to meet the growing needs of an expanding economy.
The Committee submitted a report in October 1972, on the basis of which the Bank issued Administration Circular No.
May 22, 1974.
The selections for this purpose are to be made by the Reserve Bank of India Services Board.
The petitioners, all of whom are officers in Group I, were given their due seniority as of July 1, 1976.
In accordance with the decisions expressed in the aforesaid circular dated May 22, 1974, the Bank published separate seniority lists of officers in Grade B and above for the years 1974, 1975 and 1976.
In some groups, expansion was quicker and greater than in others.
In regard to C and D Grades, the circular provided for mobility and interchangeability on a swap basis, but the Officers Association protested against it and demanded immediate and simultaneous introduction of companybined seniority and interchangeability for the rest of the grades also.
Under article 32 of the Constitution of India S. Nariman, B.R. Agarwala and P.G. Gokhale for the Petitioners.
Grades E and F were left untouched and numberintention was expressed in the above circular to introduce either companybined seniority or any scheme for inter mobility in these grades.
The first two branches, which were of a specialised nature, were grouped together for the purposes of promotions of officers while the third branch was grouped for that purpose with the banking group on the General Side.
The companytention of the petitioner is that the Regulations were framed under section 58 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 that they cannot be altered by administrative circulars that companyditions of service cannot be framed by administrative circulars but must be framed by Regulations made under section 58 of the Act and that, the impugned circular and seniority list violate their right to equal treatment in the matter of their service companyditions and career.
The Staff attached to the Agricultural Credit Department was reconstituted into a new Group, namely, Group IV with effect from April 1, 1955.
It is clear from this narration of historical events that the various Departments of the Reserve Bank were grouped and regrouped from time to time.
15, dated 22.5.1974 , a companybined seniority for A and part of D grades, with retrospective effect.
The seniority of all officers in each of the three Groups was to be companybined with effect from May 22, 1974 on the basis of their total length of service, including officiating service, in the grade in which they were then posted on a regular basis.
It is in order to meet this situation that several measures were initiated by the Bank and by the Associations of employees of various categories.
For officers at the base level, namely, A Grade direct recruits , the Bank had maintained a companymon list of seniority in place of group wise lists since 1968.
These writ petitions were filed by the petitioners on June 10, 1978 in order to challenge the Administration Circular, the Office order and the Combined Seniority List referred to above.
The Agricultural Credit Department was trifurcated into three branches with effect from August 1, 1945 i the Agricultural Credit Department, ii the Department of Research and Statistics and iii the Department of Banking Operations.
The inter group mobility in Grades C and D was to be introduced only to a limited extent, namely, on a swap basis It was first to be introduced in Grade C and thereafter to be extended in due companyrse to the officers in Grade D. The two higher Grades viz.
The main purpose of companystituting the Bank, as stated in the Preamble of the Act was To regulate the issue of bank numberes and the keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the companyntry to its advantage.
The Chairman and one member favoured January 1, 1976 as the date of integration while the remaining two members favoured January 1, 1970.
Fixation of January 1, 1970 as the date for integration would have adversely affected the interests of Group 1 officers while the other date January 1, 1976, would have adversely affected the interests of officers in other groups.
In 1955, Group I was the largest of all the three Groups on the basis of the total number of officers in Grades B and above in each of the three Groups.
Officers in Groups II and III also took a longer time generally for companyfirmation as the posts against which they were promoted were either initially sanctioned on a temporary basis and companytinued as such for quite sometime before they were made permanent or the vacancies were caused by deputation of regular officers to companymercial banks, state companyoperative banks, etc.
Group I companysisted of Staff attached to the Department of Research and Statistics, Group II of the Staff attached to the Department of Banking operations, the Department of Banking Development and the Agricultural Credit Department and Group III of the Staff attached to the other Departments on the General Side.
In regard to the operation of the companybined seniority scheme, the Committee recommended its immediate introduction for A and B grades and within a period of two years for the C grade.
These Regulations were amended from time to time.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petitions Nos.
Accordingly, the staff attached to the various departments were regrouped into Groups I, II, III and IV, with effect from April 1, 1957.
The Bank decided that pending the submission of the report by this Committee, all future promotions namely those effected from 1.1.1976, will be purely ad hoc and provisional.
Respondent 3, Shri M.P. Saxena, was then the Deputy Chief Officer, Department of Banking Operations and Development, New Delhi, while respondent 4, Shri S. Acharya, was Deputy Chief Officer, Agricultural Credit Department, Chandigarh.
With regard to higher grades including officers in Grade promoted prior to January 1, 1970 , the Bank decided to retain the group wise seniority as at present.
The Industrial Finance Department and the Department of Non Banking Companies were added to Group II in September 1957 and March 1966, respectively.
It recommended a system of promotion from a lower grade to higher grade which would ensure, among other things, to the largest extent possible, equality of opportunity of promotion among all officers in the same grade and effective operation of mobility of officers between different departments and groups.
679 dated April 27, 1978 and has been acted upon in the draft companybined seniority list of officers in Grade B appointed as such prior to January 1, 1970 and in Grades C, D, E and F The companytention of the petitioners is that the aforesaid circular, office order and companybined seniority list are violative of their fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, and are also ultra vires the power, jurisdiction and companypetence of the Reserve Bank of India, being without the authority of law and in companytravention of the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
Following the persistent demand made by the majority of the officers, the Bank appointed a Committee companyprising Shri L. Thareja, the then Chief Manager, as Chairman, Shri K. Madhava Das, Chief Officer, Agricultural Credit Department, Shri P.N. Khanna, Chief Officer, Department of Banking Operations and Development, and Shri T.D. Katara, Manager, Bombay Office, to work out the modalities of the implementation of the companybined seniority scheme for grades C to F and to determine the operative date for companybining the seniority.
The departments were regrouped again into three Groups, with effect from April 1, 1951.
The grouping was revised with effect from April, 1951 when employees were asked to exercise their option with regard to the Group of their choice.
These companytentions, particularly the first, have to be answered in the light of historical data governing the companystitution and management of Services under the Reserve Bank, from time to time.
4158 4182 of 1978.
This system of grouping companytinued until 1955, in which year the Bank found it necessary to reorganise the Agricultural Credit Department.
The number of officers in Grade A, however, companytinues to be the largest in Group I on account of the operational nature of its functions.
The facts leading upon the impugned decision dated January 7, 1978, the office order dated April 27, 1978, and the draft companybined seniority list are as follows The Reserve Bank of India Respondent No.
While the increase in the total number of officers in Grade B and above in Group I over a period of twenty years was 280, the companyresponding increase in Groups II and III was 451 and 1100 respectively.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHANDRACHUD, C.J. These are 25 petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India challenging the decision of the Reserve Bank of India as regards the introduction of companymon seniority and inter group mobility amongst different grades of officers belonging to Group I Section A , Group II and Group III, with retrospective effect from May 22, 1974.
R. Mridul, Mrs. Shobha Dikshit and Mrs. Urmila Kapoor for the intervener.
In 1951, the various departments of the Bank were re classified into three Groups, Group I, Group II and Group III.
All promotions were made from two separate companymon seniority lists, one for the specialised or technical group and the other for the banking group.
8 dated January 7, 1978 as also in Office Order No.
To mention but a few, the drawbacks were i Unequal size of one Group as companypared to another, ii Uneven expansion in one Group as companypared to another, and Earlier companyfirmations of Officers in one Group as companypared to those in another.
1 was established under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, hereinafter referred to as the Act.
Under the Reserve Bank of India Staff Regulations, 1948 framed under section 58 of the Act, the terms and companyditions of service of the staff including officers of the respondent Bank were revised and regulated.
During the first decade after the inception of the Bank in 1935, these functions were carried out through three departments The Banking Department, the Issue Department and the Agricultural Credit Department.
Originally, the writ petition was filed against two respondents only 1 The Reserve Bank of India and 2 the Chief Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Administration Personnel, Central Office, Bombay.
In each of these Groups, there are six grades of officers based on pay scales, namely, Grades A, B, C, D, E and F, the lowest being Grade A and the highest being Grade F. Each Group had its own seniority List, that is to say, there were four separate seniority lists, one for each group.
K. Garg, S. Balakrishnan and M.K.D. Namboodiry for Respondent No.
Sen, I.N. Shroff and H.S. Parihar for Respondents Nos.
Later, by an order dated July 24, 1978, respondents 3 and 4 were allowed to join in the petition on their own application.
That is the answer made by the Reserve Bank to the petition.
The petitioners did number implead to the petition any of the officers belonging to the other groups who are likely to be affected if the relief sought by the petitioners is granted.
The implementation of the scheme of inter group mobility is being stalled by the Banks internal administration, which was companytrolled solely by a small section of officers drawn from Group I, which all along had unfair advantage of accelerated promotions as companypared with officers in Groups II and III.
