{"id":200107,"date":"1998-12-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-12-07T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-chotelal-and-ors-on-8-december-1998"},"modified":"2016-04-17T22:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T17:04:39","slug":"union-of-india-and-anr-vs-chotelal-and-ors-on-8-december-1998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-chotelal-and-ors-on-8-december-1998","title":{"rendered":"Union Of India And Anr vs Chotelal And Ors on 8 December, 1998"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Union Of India And Anr vs Chotelal And Ors on 8 December, 1998<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_bench\">Bench: Sujata V. Manohar, G.B. Pattanik<\/div>\n<pre>           CASE NO.:\nAppeal (civil)  921 of 1995\n\nPETITIONER:\nUNION OF INDIA AND ANR.\n\nRESPONDENT:\nCHOTELAL AND ORS.\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT: 08\/12\/1998\n\nBENCH:\nSUJATA V. MANOHAR &amp; G.B. PATTANIK\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n<p>JUDGMENT<\/p>\n<p>1998 Supp(3) SCR 449<\/p>\n<p>The Judgment of the Court was delivered by<\/p>\n<p>PATTANA1K, J. This appeal by Union of India is directed against the order<br \/>\nof the Central Administrative Tribunal, Bombay Bench, Bombay, dated<br \/>\n9.1.1994. The short question that arises for consideration is whether<br \/>\nDhobis appointed to wash the clothes of the cadets at NDA, Khadakwasla and<br \/>\nare paid from the fund called  &#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; can be said to be holders<br \/>\nof civil post so as to confer jurisdiction on the Central Administrative<br \/>\nTribunal for issuing any direction in relation to their service conditions?<br \/>\nThe Tribunal by the impugned judgment came to the conclusion that the<br \/>\n&#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; from out to which Dhobis are paid their salaries gets<br \/>\ncovered by both the Consolidated Fund of India through the grants-in-aid as<br \/>\nit is paid to the institutions under the military which have to be funded<br \/>\nand set up to ensure the various activities including social and welfare<br \/>\nactivities. It further held that Regimental Funds are controlled and<br \/>\naudited by the Controller and Auditor General of Defence Account alongwith<br \/>\nother Public Accounts of the Government and as such the posts of Dhobis are<br \/>\ncivilian posts connected with Defence conferring jurisdiction on the<br \/>\nTribunal to redress the grievances. On merits the Tribunal taking into<br \/>\naccount the fact that Dhobis are working for nearly 30 years in the Defence<br \/>\nestablishment and yet are not covered by the Provident Fund Act and other<br \/>\nGovernment schemes issued the direction that the authorities of NDA may<br \/>\nprepare a scheme for appointment of Dhobis on permanent basis and put them<br \/>\non regular footing as permanent government employee,<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mahajan, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant contends<br \/>\nthat in view of the nature of duties discharged by these Dhobis, the nature<br \/>\nof fund from which their salaries are paid, the nature of control that is<br \/>\nexercised by the authorities of the National Defence Academy over such<br \/>\nDhobis the conclusion of the Tribunal that the posts are Civil posts is<br \/>\nwholly erroneous and the same cannot be sustained. According to Mr.<br \/>\nMahajan, under Section 14(1)(a) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985,<br \/>\nthe Central Administrative Tribunal on land from the appointed day exercise<br \/>\njurisdiction in relation to the recruitment, and matters concerning<br \/>\nrecruitment, to any All India Service or to any Civil service of the Union<br \/>\nor a Civil post under the Union or to a post connected with defence or in<br \/>\nthe defence services, being, in either case, a post filled by a civilian.<br \/>\nDhobis engaged for washing clothes of the cadets do not satisfy any of<br \/>\nthese pre-conditions so as to confer jurisdiction on the Central<br \/>\nAdministrative Tribunal and, therefore, the impugned order of the Tribunal<br \/>\nis un-sustainable in law; Learned counsel appearing for the respondent on<br \/>\nthe other hand contended, that the washing allowance payable to the cadets<br \/>\nbeing paid from the Consolidated Fund of India and the same being credited<br \/>\ninto a fund called &#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; and Dhobis being paid from out of the<br \/>\nsaid funds, the Tribunal was justified in coming to the conclusion that the<br \/>\nRegimental Fund itself gets impressed with the character of the<br \/>\nConsolidated Fund and holders of post paid out of that fund in true spirit<br \/>\nand sense must be held to be holders of civil post under the Ministry of<br \/>\nDefence of the Union Government and, therefore, Tribunal gets the<br \/>\njurisdiction to decide the service conditions: of the holders of such<br \/>\nposts: The learned counsel further contended that taking into account the<br \/>\ngross injustice meted out to such Dhobis who have been serving the cadets<br \/>\nfor more than 30 years, the Tribunal rightly issued certain directions to<br \/>\nevolve a scheme for regularisation of such Dhobis and there is no<br \/>\nillegality with the order of the Tribunal so as to be interfered by this<br \/>\nCourt under Article 136 of the Constitution.\n<\/p>\n<p>In view of the rival contentions raised, the most crucial question that<br \/>\narises for consideration is what is the nature of the post against which<br \/>\nthe Dhobis get their appointment for discharging the duties of washing<br \/>\nclothes of the cadets? From the terms and conditions of the letter of<br \/>\nappointment issued to such Dhobis it is crystal clear that the appointments<br \/>\ncannot be held to be One against any civil post. On the other hand it<br \/>\nclearly indicates that the appointment is purely private payable out of<br \/>\nRegimental Fund, Initially these Dhobis were being paid at a particular<br \/>\nrate per cadet on the basis of actual number of cadets a Dhobi is required<br \/>\nto serve, but later on a monthly salary, no doubt, has been fixed for being<br \/>\npaid to such Dhobis. The terms of appointment, no doubt vest certain<br \/>\ncontrol over such Dohbis on the Commandant of the Academy but nonetheless<br \/>\nsuch control cannot impress the post of Dhobis with the character of a<br \/>\nCivil post. It is also borne out from the record that each cadet is granted<br \/>\na monthly Dhobi allowance and the said allowance is put into a fund called<br \/>\n&#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; under the management of Commanding Officer of the<br \/>\ninstitution. At this stage it would be appropriate to notice some<br \/>\nprovisions of the Defence Services Regulation which would give an idea as<br \/>\nto the characteristic of the Regimental Fund. Under Para 801 of the<br \/>\nRegulation Public Funds have been defined as such :-\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;801 (a) Public Funds &#8211; Include all funds which are financed entirely from<br \/>\npublic money, the unexpanded balances of which are refundable to Government<br \/>\nin the event of not being devoted to the objects for which granted, and<br \/>\nalso<\/p>\n<p>(i) unissued pay and allowances;\n<\/p>\n<p>(ii) Office allowance fund; and<\/p>\n<p>(iii) the estates of deceased men an deserters.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>Para 801 (b) defines &#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; to mean comprising all funds, other<br \/>\nthan public funds maintained by a Unit. Rule 820 provides for<br \/>\nadministration of such Regimental Fund and 820(a)clearly indicates that all<br \/>\nfunds other than public funds as defined In Para 801 maintained by a unit,<br \/>\nwhich are financed either wholly or partly from public money. Regulation<br \/>\nfurther provides that the Commanding Officer acts as a trustee in relation<br \/>\nto the &#8216;Regimental Fund&#8217; and is responsible that the funds are properly<br \/>\napplied with special reference to the object of the fund and for the<br \/>\nbenefit of the personnel or unit as a whole.\n<\/p>\n<p>In view of the characters of the Regimental Fund, as discussed above, we<br \/>\nhave no hesitation to come to the conclusion that the said fund cannot be<br \/>\nheld to be public fund by any stretch of imagination and the Dhobis paid<br \/>\nOut of such fund cannot be held to be holders of Civil post within the<br \/>\nMinistry of Defence so as to confer jurisdiction of the Central<br \/>\nAdministrative Tribunal to issue direction relating to their service<br \/>\nconditions. It is of course true that the Commanding Officer exercises some<br \/>\ncontrol over such Dhobis but on that score alone it cannot be concluded<br \/>\nthat the posts are civil posts and that payments to the holders of such<br \/>\npost is made from out of the Consolidated Fund of India or of any public<br \/>\nfund under the control of Ministry of Defence.\n<\/p>\n<p>In the aforesaid premises the contention of Mr. Mahajan, learned senior<br \/>\ncounsel that the Central Administrative Tribunal has no jurisdiction to go<br \/>\ninto the question of service conditions of such Dhobis has to be sustained<br \/>\nand consequently, the impugned order of the Tribunal has to be set aside.<br \/>\nWe accordingly, set aside the impugned judgment of the Tribunal and dismiss<br \/>\nthe O.A. This appeal is allowed, but, in the circumstances without any<br \/>\norder as to costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court of India Union Of India And Anr vs Chotelal And Ors on 8 December, 1998 Bench: Sujata V. Manohar, G.B. Pattanik CASE NO.: Appeal (civil) 921 of 1995 PETITIONER: UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. RESPONDENT: CHOTELAL AND ORS. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 08\/12\/1998 BENCH: SUJATA V. MANOHAR &amp; G.B. PATTANIK JUDGMENT: JUDGMENT 1998 Supp(3) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Union Of India And Anr vs Chotelal And Ors on 8 December, 1998 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/union-of-india-and-anr-vs-chotelal-and-ors-on-8-december-1998\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Union Of India And Anr vs Chotelal And Ors on 8 December, 1998 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; 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