Civil Appeal Nos. 4717-4719, 7219, 7220, 7221, 7223, 7228, 6185, 6193, 6220, 10955, 10954, 9592 and 9645 of 2013, 91 and 689 of 2014. Case: Union of India (UOI) Vs Atul Shukla. Supreme Court (India)
| Case Number | Civil Appeal Nos. 4717-4719, 7219, 7220, 7221, 7223, 7228, 6185, 6193, 6220, 10955, 10954, 9592 and 9645 of 2013, 91 and 689 of 2014 |
| Judges | T.S. Thakur and C. Nagappan, JJ. |
| Issue | Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 - Sections 6A, 6A(1); Constitution of India - Articles 14, 16 |
| Judgement Date | September 24, 2014 |
| Court | Supreme Court (India) |
Judgment:
T.S. Thakur, J.
1. These appeals arise out of separate but similar orders passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, whereby the Tribunal has allowed the petitions filed by the Respondents holding them entitled to continue in service upto the age of 57 years in the case of officers serving in the ground duty branch and 54 years in the case of those serving in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force. The solitary question that falls for our consideration, therefore, is whether the Respondents who at the relevant point of time held the rank of Group Captain (Time Scale) in the Indian Air Force were entitled to continue in service upto 54 and 57 years depending upon whether they were serving in the flying or ground duty branch of the force. The question arises in the following backdrop:
2. Post Kargil War, the Government of India constituted a Committee headed by Ajay Vikram Singh, former Defence Secretary (hereinafter referred to as AVS Committee) to study ways and means that would help ensure a "younger age profile" for the commanding officer in the Indian Armed Forces. The Committee made its recommendations in regard to all the three wings of the armed forces which were considered and accepted by the Government culminating in the issue of separate orders regarding re-structuring of the officers cadre in the Army, Navy and the Air Force. In so far as the Indian Air Force was concerned, the Government of India by an order dated 12th March, 2005 revised the terms and conditions applicable to Air Force Officers excluding officers serving in the medical and dental branch. The order was to the following effect:
ANNEXURE P-2
No. 2(2)/Us(L)/D(AIR-III)/04
Bharat Sarkar/Government of India
Raksha Mantralay/Ministry of Defence
New Delhi-110011
March 12, 2005
To
The Chief of Air Staff
Air Headquarters,
Vayu Bhawan,
New Delhi.
Subject: Restructuring of the officers cadre of the air force.
Sir,
1. The President is pleased to sanction revision of various terms of service for Air Force Officers as given in the succeeding paragraphs excluding officers of Medical and Dental Branch.
2. Substantive Promotion:
To reduce the age profile and supersession levels in the Air Force as also to improve vertical mobility, promotion to the substantive ranks of officers will be made on completion of reckonable commissioned service as indicated below:
3. Promotion accruing from Para 2 above shall also be subject to the officers fulfilling other criteria to be notified immediately by the Air Headquarters: through Air HQ Human Resource Policy. Loss of seniority for non qualification in promotion examinations already awarded will continue to hold good.
4. Those serving in the rank of Wg Cdr (Time Scale) will now be eligible for grant of the substantive rank of Wg Cdr. On grant of substantive rank of Wg Cdr these officers would become eligible for consideration for Gp Capt (Select)/Gp Capt (Time Scale) provided that;
(a) Those who have attained the rank of Wg Cdr (Time Scale) on completion of 20 years of service before the dare of implementation of the order and who have been found suitable for grant of Wg Cdr (Time Bound) based, on the new Human resource policy notified by Air HQ will be eligible for consideration to the rank of GP Capt (Select). These officers would reckon their seniority immediately below the junior most select Wg Cdr who has already been promoted ahead of him prior to Implementation of this order.
(b) Those who have attained the rank of Wg Cdr (Time Scale) on completion of 20 years of service, before the date of implementation of the order and who have been found unsuitable for grant of Wg Cdr (Time Bound) based on the new Human resource policy will be ineligible for consideration to the rank of GP Capt (Selection) but will be eligible for grant of rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale).
GP Capt (Time Scale)
5. Officer not promoted to the rank of Gp Capt by selection, may be granted that substantive rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale), irrespective of vacancies, provided they are considered fit in all other respects. The terms and conditions governing the rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale) are as under:
(a) Pay Scale. As applicable to Gp Capt (Select) Grade which currently is Rs. 15,100-450-17,350.
(b) Rank Pay. Officers will be entitled to rank pay of a Wg Cdr which currently is Rs. 1,600/- p.m.
(c) Other Allowances & Perks. Officers holding the rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale) will be eligible for all allowances and other perks as applicable to Gp Capt (Select) Grade.
(d) Age of Superannuation. The age of superannuation for Gp Capt (time Scale) would be same as it is for the rank of Wg Cdr in respective, branches. Therefore, there is no change in the retirement age of a Wg Cdr on being promoted to the rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale).
(e) Medical Criteria. The present provisions contained in the policies and amendments thereto, applicable so far for the rank of Wg Cdr (Time Scale) will now be applicable to the new grade of Gp Capt (Time Scale):
6. Officers holding the rank of Gp Capt (Time Scale) will be held against the authorization of Wg Cdr. Such officers shall, in precedence, rank junior to the following officers:
(a) Substantive Gp Capt (Select).
(b) Acting Gp Capt (Select).
7. Detailed criteria and procedure for grant of substantive rank of Gp Capt by Time Scale will immediately be notified by the Air Headquarters through HRP.
8. Revision in pay and pension due to promotion, where applicable, to officers who have retired, during the intervening period between 16 Dec 04 and date of issue of this letter will be reviewed with retrospective effect from 16 Dec 04.
9. As a consequence of the implementation of the above orders the appointments in which Sqn. Ldrs and Wg Cdrs can be posted are given at appendices 'A' and 'B' to this letter, mutatis mutandis Unit Establishments of units,' formations and Establishments will stand modified to the above extent till their] revision in due course. Various orders and instructions affected by the above decisions would be amended in due course.
10. These orders will take effect from 16 Dec 2004.
11. This issues with the concurrence of Integrated Finance vide their Dy No. 636/Dir (Fin/AG/GS) dated March 11, 2005.
Yours faithfully,
(Bimla Julka)
Joint Secretary to the Govt. of India
3. It is evident from the above that a Squadron Leader can, under the new dispensation, be promoted as a Wing Commander upon his completing 13 years reckonable commissioned service in the force. He can be further promoted as Group Captain (Time Scale) after he has to his credit reckonable service of 26 years. The position prevalent pre-AVS Committee recommendations, was that a Squadron Leader who did not make it to the next rank of Wing Commander in three chances admissible to him could become a Wing Commander (Time Scale) and retire upon attaining the age of 52 years in case he was serving the flying branch and 54 years if he was serving in the ground duty branch of the force. This was true even for a Wing Commander (Select) who did not make it to the next higher rank of Group Captain in three chances available to him for such promotion. Post-AVS Committee the Government provided an additional avenue for the Wing commanders to pick up the next higher rank of a Group Captain (Time Scale) even if they were not able to make it to the next rank on the basis of inter se merit. The AVS Committee recommendations and the Government Order were meant to provide relief to such officers, as were not able to go to the next level due primarily to the limited number of vacancies in the pyramid like service structure where the number of posts become fewer and fewer as one climbs higher in rank. The pre-AVS Committee and post-AVS Committee position in regard to the retirement age fixed for various ranks in the Indian Air Force can be conveniently summarised in the following chart:
4. The chart makes it clear that post-AVS Committee's report and recommendations the Wing Commander (Time scale) rank was abolished and the bar for time scale promotion to officers who did not make to the next rank raised to Group Captain (Time Scale). To that extent the issue of stagnation in the Air Force was addressed by providing avenues for upward mobility of Wing Commanders. There was at the same time a flip side to the Government decision inasmuch as the advantage in terms of upward movement was, to an extent, neutralised by the Government retaining the retirement age of Group Captains (Time Scale) at 52 years in the case of flying branch and 54 years in the case of officers serving in the ground duty branch. This is evident from a reading of Clause 5(d) extracted above which denied to the Group Captains (Time Scale) the benefit of a higher retirement age applicable to Group Captains (Select) who could serve upto 54 years of age in the flying branch and 57 years in the ground duty Education and Met branches of the force. The Government Order in effect classified officers holding the rank of Group Captains in two categories one comprising officers who rise to that rank by time scale upon completion of 26 years of service and the other who got there by promotion on the basis of merit. This classification of officers serving in the air force holding the same rank but governed by different standards for purposes of their superannuation was assailed by the Respondents who were Group Captain (Time Scale) in petitions filed by them before the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi. The grievance made by them was that Group Captains in the Air Force constituted one class regardless whether they were promoted to that rank by time scale or on inter se merit. The Respondents alleged that they were discharging the same kind of duties as were being performed by Group Captains (Select). They were wearing the same ranks and drawing the same emoluments and other allowances and were regulated by the same conditions of services in...
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