DINKAR KESHAV BEDBKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant brought a suit for a declaration that the order dated January 30, 1964, issued by respondent No. 2(ii), the Secretary, State Board of Literature & Culture, terminating his services in the Vishvakosh Project at Wai, was illegal and void and that he continued to be in the services of respondent No. 1, the State of Maharashtra. The appellant contended, in the alternative, that he was appointed for a fixed period of five years and that; as his services were terminated prematurely, he was entitled to claim damages in the sum of Rs. 35,930, being the salary he would have drawn for the unexpired portion. He restricted this claim to Rs. 5,000 on the ground that he was not in a position to pay Court-fees 011 the full claim.

(2.) By a resolution dated November 19, 1960, in the General Administration Department, the Government of Maharashtra established a "State Board for Literature and Culture", for a period of five years in the first instance. The Board decided to compile an encyclopaedia in Marathi called "Vishvakosh" and for that purpose a Vishvakosh Project Unit was established at Wai in the District of Satara. Mr. Laxmanshastri Joshi was appointed as Chairman of the Board.

(3.) In 1962, the appellant was working- in the Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics, Pooria, as an Editor of a quarterly journal conducted by that Institute. Dr. D. R. Gadgil, now the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission, was then the Director of the Gokhale Institute. Respondent No. 2(ii), the Secretary of the Board, wrote two letters to Dr. Gadgil, in one of which an express request was made that the Gokhale Institute should release the appellant so that he could be appointed as a Section Editor in the Vishvakosh Project, On Dr. Gadgil agreeing, the Secretary of the Board issued an order on April '21, 1962, appointing the appellant "to work in the post of a Section Editor in the pay-scale of Rs. 700-50-950 in the office of the Vishvakosh Unit at Wai, sanctioned under Government Resolution, General Administration Department, No. BLC 1666.K dated 29th December 1961". The appointment was to take effect from May 2, 1'962. The resolution dated December 29, 1961, mentions, in so far as is relevant, that sanction was accorded to the proposal to create five posts of Section Editors in the Vishvakosh Unit of the Board, that the posts should be created for a period ending February 28, 1962 and that the recruitment to the posts should be made by the Chairman of the Board. Similar resolutions were passed from year to year extending the appointments of the Section Editors and other employees of the Board.