A SIYER OTHERS Vs. V BALASUBRAMANYAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two sister appeals have gained access to this Court by certificate under Article 133 and project a 'service dispute' between the Army and civilian wings (both engineers) of the Survey of India. The constitutional missiles used, with success, in the encounter in the High Court by the 'civilians' to shoot down the 'military men's preferential claims under the relevant service rules, are Articles 14 and 16. And here, in this Court, the Army wing is fighting back to repulse the civilian wing by defusing the warhead of these two fundamental rights. Military imagery vivifies the litigative havoc when sectors of our public services go to battle against each other, though there is so much else to wage war against in the service of the people.

(2.) A narration of facts falling within a short compass will unfold the real issue, revolving round the salary, seniority and de facto promotional disparity inter se, which has sparked off the forensic war. The Union of India, one of the appellants, supports the stand of the military sector of the Survey Service, if we may so designate it. A survey of the story of this conflict suggests the sombre thought the unending litigation, affecting the public services with inevitable impact on morals and efficiency, is becoming an epidemic in courts even among strategic cadres and sensitive sectors - a matter almost for consternation which surely must kindle a search for constitutional alternatives for resolution of service questions without large numbers of civil servants being locked in long-drawn-out legal struggles. Does the experience of 30 years under the Constitution indicate that, save where fundamental constitutional issues arise, Whitley Councils, Service Tribunals and other specialised adjudicatory agencies, with the imprimatur of finality, are a more pragmatic mechanism of Service Justice?

(3.) THE story of the Survey of India has been narrated in its brief autobiography, 'Our Department', produced on the eve of its bicentennial in 1967. This department was born during the days of Lord Clive under happy Army stars, had a military upbringing and, in its brilliant career, achieved lustrous exploits. Starting from an accident of history - the request of a historian, Robert Orme, to an East India Company administrator Lord Clive, for a map of Bengal - the Survey of India sprang to life in embryonic form when Major Rennel was appointed to execute this survey and thereafter, was cradled by the Army but spread out to become a dynamic department and developmental instrument in the decades ahead. In war and in peace in building the nation and defending its security, in 'civilian' ventures and military operations the Survey of India has become a National Service in the role of adviser on survey data and kindred adventures. Indeed, almost all ministries of the central Government and many States have used the services of the Survey of Indian during the several Five Year Plans. 'Look before you leap' becomes in development terms, survey before you start, and so it is that in 1967 this great department of strategic importance is able to write its story and conclude: