SANTHOSH KUMAR Vs. DIRECTOR OF PANCHAYATS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An Office Attendant in a Grama Panchayat challenges his transfer to another Grama Panchayat under orders of the jurisdictional Deputy Director of Panchayats in the Government of Kerala. The learned Single Judge, examining the question of jurisdiction, found himself unable to agree with the ratio of Minimol v. Director of Municipalities,2012 1 KerLT 600, that even after the constitution of the State Administrative Tribunal in Kerala, under the provisions of Section 15 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, --for short, the 'AT Act'-, members of the Municipal Common Service can agitate their service disputes in the High Court. Hence, this reference to the Division Bench. In the reference order, the learned Single Judge has pointed out that the stipulation in sub-section (1) of Section 180 of the KPR Act that panchayat employees (except contingent employees) are full scale Government Servants needs to be considered.

(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the status obtained by the panchayats following 73rd amendment to the Constitution introducing Part IX puts the panchayats in a pedestal much higher than what they were before. Making reference to the judgment of this Court in Raveendran v. State of Kerala, 2006 1 KerLT 427, he rightly pointed out that the panchayats are now not mere statutory institutions, but have independent constitutional setting on which they rest. He further argued that if that is the situation obtained as a result of the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, as a necessary corollary, it has to follow that the persons employed in the panchayats are not to be treated as Government Servants because Panchayats cannot be treated or reckoned as institutions under the control of the Government, to bring them within the format of Section 15(1)(b) of the AT Act.

(3.) Per contra, the learned standing counsel for the Kerala Public Service Commission and the learned Government Pleader argued that it has been repeatedly held by this Court that, on examination of the Kerala Municipal Common Service Rules, it can be seen that Municipal Common Service is also public service. Reference was made to Balakrishnan Nair v. Ram Mohan Nair,1998 1 KerLT 766 (KB.) rendered noticing that the ratio of State of Haryana v. D.R. Sangar, 1976 AIR(SC) 1199 points to such conclusion. The learned Government Pleader also referred to the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Mohammed Azmat Ali v. Director of Intermediate Education, 2012 2 KerLT 106 (FB), the full text of which has been made available to us by Senior Advocate Sri S. Sreekumar during the course of his submissions in connection with another Writ Petition, which we have dealt with by a separate judgment. The learned standing counsel for the Kerala Public Service Commission also pointed out the decision of this Court in Satheesan v. State of Kerala,1990 2 KerLT 705, which also proceeds stating that Panchayat Common Services and Municipal Common Services are Government Services.