TMI Blog1973 (9) TMI 105X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... respondent in this appeal, was appointed Member of the State Public Service Commission by the Governor of Mysore on March 20,, 1967. While his term was still running, the Governor was pleased to appoint him Chairman of the Commission with effect from February 15, 1969. The State took the view that the six years assured to him by Article 316(2) commenced to run from the date he became Member simpliciter and did not receive a fresh start from the later date when he assumed office as Chairman. Government s view on the issue was revealed in answer to an interpellation in the Legislative Council made on March 17, 1973. On this-reckoning the Chairman s term would have ended on the 19th and so, the panicked respondent hastened to the High Court to avert the peril of premature ouster and sought an appropriate writ interdicting Government s move. The timely interim order and the eventual allowance of the writ petition balked the hope of Government and drove the State to this Court in quest of a final pronouncement on the constitutional question involved. While there is divergence of judicial opinion at the High Court level, the preponderance of authority, including a ruling of the Mysore H ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ort of forensic sound-proof room ? The working life, of an Indian official in administration can easily be, and is, several times the six short years granted to a Public Service Commission Member under Art. 316(2). Further employment in public service is also not unusual for superannuated officers, particularly at the higher echelons. And yet there is substantial, although not total, prohibition of subsequent employment in public service of Commission Members written into the Constitution by Art. 319. The learned counsel rightly stresses that the Public Service Commission has vast powers of recruitment of candidates for an immense and increasing host of Government posts which in a country with considerable unemployment are prom to be abused if too close and too long a familiarity with certain sectors were to be established. The prospect and peril of the Executive, tempting with renewals of membership to influence the incumbents may corrupt that institution, which must zealously be kept above suspicion. This is the reason detre of the narrow period prescribed by Art. 316(2), the taboo on reappointment in Art. 316(3) and on taking up of any Government service clamped down by Art. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... us in Gopalan v. Slate of Madras, (1.950) S.C.R. 88 thus : A speech made in the course of the debate on a bill could at best be indicative of the subjective intent of the speaker, but it could not reflect the inarticulate mental process lying behind the majority vote which carried the, bill. Nor is it reasonable to assume that the minds of all those legislators were in accord . Or, is it is more tersely, put in an American case- Those who did not speak may not have agreed with those who did; and those who spoke might differ from each other-United States v. Trans- Missouri Freight Association, (1897) 169 U.S. 290 at p. 318 (sic) . This rule of exclusion has not always been adhered to in America, and. sometimes distinction is made between using such material to ascertain the purpose of a statute and using it for ascertaining its meaning. It would seem that the rule is adopted in Canada and Australia-see Craies on Statute Law, 5th Edn. p. 122 (pp. 368-9) . In the American jurisdiction, a more natural note has sometimes been struck. Mr. justice Frankfurter was of the view(2) that- If the purpose of construction is the ascertainment of meaning, nothing that is logic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... may be felt, respond to the great social changes but a conclusive pronouncement on the particular point arising here need not detain us because nothing, decisive as between the alternative interpretations flows from a reliance on the Constituent Assembly proceedings or the broad purposes of the statutory scheme. A few excerpts from the drafting preludes to the framing of the Constitution from the masterly study by B. Shiva Rao and relevant quotes from a few important speeches in the House may be apposite and illuminating. The Royal Commission on Superior Services in India, popularly called the Lee Commission (1924) observed(3) Wherever democratic institutions exist, experience has shown that to secure an efficient civil service it is essential to protect it as far as possible from political or personal influences and give it that position of stability and security (1) The Indian Parliament and the Fundamental Rights-Tagore Law LeCtures, p. 148. (2) A. K. Gopalan v. State of Madras, AIR 1950 S. C. 27. (3) The Framing of India s Constitution-A Study, pp. 724-725. which is vital to its successful working as the impartial and efficient instrument by which governments, o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hereof, may be excerpted(3) here : (1) The Framing of India s Constitution-A Study-p. 734. (2) Constituent Assembly Debates (Vol. 9) 1949. p. 575. (3) Constituent Assembly Debates (Vol. 9) (1949) p. 58 1. That at the end of the proposed new article 285-C, the following proviso be added:- Provided that a member s total period of employment in the different public service commissions shall not exceed twelve Years . This amendment is more than important than my other amendments. I was confirmed in this view from what I heard Dr. Ambedkar say this morning in moving his own amendment. He said, while explaining article 285 that a person shall not hold office as a Member of a Public Service Commission for more than six years. That of course is partially provided in clause (3) of article But that clause refers only to the reemployment of a person to that particular post. So far as the other posts are concerned, that clause does not apply. So according to article 285-C a member of a Public Service Commission can continue to be a Member of one or other of the public service commissions for any number of years. I say any, number of years because, for six years one can be a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... irman or not, or one or the other in succession, will get a total term of six years only. That is to say , even in the middle of his term as Member, if he is appointed Chairman, he wilt get only a run of six years to serve from the date he became an ordinary Member. On the other hand, if the rival contention of the respondent were to prevail, in the case of a Member of a State Public Service Commission, there is a possibility of his getting a maximum of six years as ordinary Member and another six years as Chairman of the Commission in the Same State. of course, we are not concerned with the prospect of appointments in other States as the mischief sought to be prevented is the possibility, of abuse by too long a ten-are in the same State. The situation in which a Member may thus enjoy a twelve-year term is so rare and, perhaps, may fall to the good fortune of only a few exceedingly good Membersand, indeed, anything between six to twelve years may not be so very long in the effective life of a public servant-that the apprehension of the object of a brief term being frustrated does not disturb us. In this context, it is reassuring to note that in twelve states and the Union there hav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e in a like manner in a judgment rendered in C.W.J.C. 1997 of 1970 (reproduced at pages 54 to 61. of vol. II of the paper-book). It may be noticed that a special leave Petition against this judgment was dismissed in line by- the Supreme Court (the said order is Ext. C in the writ petition). It now remains to understand the ratio of those decisions in the light of the anatomy of the constitutional scheme contained in Arts. 316 to 319. At this stage we may read Arts. 316, 317 and 319 in extenso : 316 (1) Appointment and terms of office of Members. The Chairman and other Members of a Public Service Commission shall be appointed in the case of the Union Commission or a Joint Commission by the President, and in the case of a State Commission, by the Governor of the State : Provided that as nearly as may be one half of the members of every Public Service Commission shall be persons who at the dates of their respective appointments have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the Government of State, and in computing the said period of ten years any period before the commencement of this Constitution during which a person has held off ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f whom a reference has been made to the Supreme Court under clause (1) until the President has passed orders on receipt of the report of the Supreme Court on such reference. (3) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), the President may by order remove from office the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission if the Chairman or such other member, as the case may be- (a) is adjudged an insolvent; or (b) engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office; or (c) is, in the opinion of the President, unfit to continue in office by, reason of infirmity of mind or body. (4) It the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission is or becomes in any way concerned or interested in any contract or agreement made by or on behalf of the, Government of India or the Government of a State or participates in any way in the profit thereof or in any benefit or emolument arising therefrom otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an incorporated company , he shall, for the purposes of clause (1), be deemed to be guilty of misbehaviour. Prohibition as to the holding of office by members of C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Art. 316., runs the submission. So presented, the argument seems impressive. But this apparent tenor gets a severe jolt when we turn to Art. 319(1) (d), for, if full credit were to be given to the opening words, on ceasing to hold office a member of a Public Service Commission is declared to be eligible for appointment as its: Chairman at the expiration of his sixyear term as ordinary member. A member ceased to hold office when six years of service are over and remotely when he is removed for infirmities (Art. 317). To deny this effect to the provision, which is an integral part of the scheme, and to confine its operation to recondite instances of insolvents, delinquents and imbeciles dealt with in Art. 317 is to argue Art. 319 into a reductio ad absurdum. A closer probe into the key Articles 316 and 319 informed by the brooding presence of a constitutional purpose behind them, may now be undertaken. A subject-wise dichotomy suggests that Art. 316 deals with the appointment of the Chairman and members of the Commission, their term of office and their ineligibility for re-appointment, while Art. 319 relates to a different topic viz., the prohibition, with narrow exceptions, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. 316(2) or (3) even if it be on he full course of six years of the office of ordinary member having run out. Now let us study the ambit and limitations of Art. 319. It primarily enumerates the prohibitions attached to the holders of offices of Chairman and member of Public Service Commissions but carves ,out a few savings to the dents . We are directly concerned with sub-cl. (d) which bars a member from taking up employment under Government but expressly declares, by way of exception, eligibility for appointment as the Chairman of that or any other State Public Service Commission , an ceasing to hold office as member (See the careful accent on office and appointment without the re). The fair meaning of this provision is that a member of Public Service Commission of a State on ceasing to hold office as such is eligible for appointment as Chairman of that Commission itself. Ordinarily when a member has run out his term under Art. 316(2), he ceases to hold office. Art. 316(2) states that a member shall hold office for a term of six years which means that on the expiration of that period he ceases to hold office. So the normal way a member ceases to hold office is by his six-y ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nted chairman by virtue of the permission written into Art. 319(d), what really happens is that the incumbent takes hold of a new office, namely, that of Chairman. He is a member all the same, as we have earlier seen. This member-cum-Chairman in terms of Art. 316(2) shall hold office, which in this case means his new office, for a term of six years or until he attains the age of sixty years. If he is appointed Chairman past sixty, the appointment will be still-born because by the mandate of Art. 316(2) he shall hold office only until he attains the age of superannuation. This date having already transpired, he cannot hold the office at all. Another conundrum raised is as to how when an ordinary member in the course of the six-year period is appointed Chairman we can read into such an appointment as ceasing to hold office as member this being a requirement for Art. 319 to apply. The obvious answer is that when a member holding the office of a member takes up the office of Chairman, he, by necessary implication and co instante, relinquishes or ceases to hold his office as ordinary member. It is inconceivable that he will hold two offices at the same time and that will also redu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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