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  • Section 5, Subsection 2 of the 1983 Income Tax Act
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Citation Codes
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  • Section 5, Subsection 2 of the 1983 Income Tax Act
Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

Bareilly Polytechnic, Bareilly (attached to U.P. Government Polytechnic, Shahjahanpur) employed one Jai Prakash Gupta as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) on an ad-hoc basis on 11 December 1987. His ad-hoc tenure was further continued by an order dated 16 March 1989, expressly limiting the continuation up to 31 May 1989 or until a regular appointment was made, whichever was earlier. Two days before that expiry, Gupta obtained an interim order in W.P. No. 6042/1989 from the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) restraining the State from terminating his services.

Separately, the Directorate of Technical Education issued a 1988 advertisement for regular appointments to the same post. After interviews on 6 January 1989, a select list was prepared in which Rajesh Kumar Misra (respondent) was placed at Serial No. 5 and Jai Prakash Gupta at Serial No. 8. Candidates at Serial Nos. 1, 2 and 4 were appointed in February 1989. Misra filed W.P. No. 4308/1989 seeking a mandamus directing his appointment, claiming precedence over Gupta.

On 16 September 1991, a single judge of the High Court allowed Misra’s writ petition and directed his appointment as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical). The State authorities and Directorate (appellants) obtained special leave and brought the present appeal before the Supreme Court challenging that order.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether the High Court erred in directing the appointment of the respondent without concurrently deciding the connected writ petition (W.P. No. 6042/1989) that had allowed Gupta to continue in the same post.
  2. Whether Gupta’s continued ad-hoc appointment could be equated with an appointment made under the 1989 select list so as to create a right in favour of the respondent for immediate appointment.

Arguments of the Parties

Appellants' Arguments

  • The appellants were willing to appoint the respondent but were prevented from doing so by the High Court’s interim order in Gupta’s writ petition, which kept Gupta in the post beyond 31 May 1989.
  • Gupta’s appointment dated 16 March 1989 was a continuation of his 1987 ad-hoc employment and had no connection with the 1989 select list; therefore, the High Court mischaracterised the situation when it treated Gupta’s presence as an implementation of the select list.
  • Fairness required that both writ petitions be heard together so that an appropriate and consistent order could be passed.

Respondent's Arguments

The opinion does not contain a detailed account of the respondent's legal arguments.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The Supreme Court found merit in the appellants’ grievance. It examined the order dated 16 March 1989 and noted that Gupta’s continued employment was expressly temporary and unrelated to the 1989 select list. Because the authorities were ready to appoint the respondent but were restrained by an interim order in another writ petition, the High Court should have consolidated both matters. The failure to do so led to an unjust result: simultaneous rights to the same post for two different individuals. The Court concluded that proper adjudication required a joint hearing of both writ petitions.

Holding and Implications

Appeal Allowed – High Court’s order dated 16 September 1991 set aside. The Supreme Court directed the High Court to club W.P. No. 4308/1989 with W.P. No. 6042/1989 and decide them by a common order. No costs were awarded.

Implications are confined to the immediate parties: the respondent’s appointment order is vacated pending fresh adjudication, and Gupta’s continuation and Misra’s claim will be jointly reconsidered. The decision sets no broader precedent beyond emphasising procedural fairness in hearing connected matters together.

    State Of U.P And Others v. Rajesh Kumar Misra .

    Venkatachala, J.— Leave granted.

    2. Bareilly Polytechnic, Bareilly is the attachee of the U.P Government Polytechnic, Sahajahanpur. A certain Jai Prakash Gupta was appointed on December 11, 1987 in an unadvertised post of Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) in that Polytechnic on ad hoc basis. He continued in that post by an order dated March 16, 1989 issued by the Joint Director of Technical Education (Appellant 3). The nature of his continued appointment, as seen from that order, was ‘temporary ad hoc’ till a directorate level regular appointment was made or up to May 31, 1989, whichever occurred earlier. When his said appointment as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) was due to expire on May 31, 1989, he obtained on May 29, 1989 an interim order from the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench in a writ petition, W.P No. 6042 of 1989, by which the State Government was restrained from terminating his appointment. By then, there was another writ petition, W.P No. 4308 of 1989 filed by Rajesh Kumar Misra (respondent here) which was pending hearing by the same Lucknow Bench. The facts which had led to the filing of that writ petition and the relief sought for therein require mention as the present appeal is directed against the order made therein. Director of Technical Education (Appellant 2) had issued an advertisement in the year 1988 inviting applications from eligible candidates for appointment in the posts of Assistant Lecturers (Electrical) in the said Polytechnic. The respondent here and the said Jai Prakash Gupta, who had applied for appointment to the said post, were interviewed along with other applicants on January 6, 1989 by a Selection Committee constituted for the purpose. In the Select List of candidates prepared by that Selection Committee the respondent here had been placed at serial No. 5 while the said Jai Prakash Gupta had been placed at serial No. 8. Selectees at serial Nos. 1, 2 and 4 were appointed as Assistant Lecturers (Electrical) in the Polytechnic in February 1989 purporting to implement that Select List. The respondent here in his writ petition claimed that the said Jai Prakash Gupta, who was at serial No. 8 in the Select List when was appointed in one of the posts of Assistant Lecturer (Electrical), he who was at serial No. 5 in the Select List should have been appointed earlier than the said Jai Prakash Gupta and hence the appellants here who were respondents in his writ petition should be directed to appoint him as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) by writ of mandamus issued to them. A learned Judge of the High Court, who heard that writ petition (W.P No. 4308 of 1989) allowed it and directed the respondents therein (appellants here) by a writ of mandamus to appoint the petitioner therein (respondent here) as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) in the Polytechnic by his order dated September 16, 1991. It is the respondents in that writ petition, who have filed the present appeal by special leave, questioning the validity of that order of the learned Judge.

    3. The submission made on behalf of the appellants was not that the appellants were not in favour of appointing the respondent (writ petitioner) in the post of Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) in that Polytechnic, but they were unable to so appoint him as the High Court by its interim order made in Writ Petition No. 6042 of 1989 of the said Jai Prakash Gupta, had allowed him to continue in that post although on May 31, 1989 he had to vacate it in terms of the order by which his appointment had been continued from the year 1987 on temporary ad hoc basis. It was explained on behalf of the appellants, that the learned Judge, although had been told that the appointment of Jai Prakash Gupta, who had found a place at serial No. 8 of the Select List, as against the respondent who found a place at serial No. 5, had not been made in implementation of that Select List, but had been continued by the Joint Director because of his ad hoc appointment in the year 1987 itself, he had ignored that all important aspect of the matter in directing the appellants to appoint the respondent also as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) in the Polytechnic. Grievance made out on behalf of the appellants, appears to us, to be well founded. Order dated March 16, 1989 by which the Joint Director had appointed Jai Prakash Gupta as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical), does not show that it was made on the basis of the aforesaid Select List. When the appellants were ready and willing to appoint the respondent at serial No. 5 in the Select List as Assistant Lecturer (Electrical) in preference to Jai Prakash Gupta at serial No. 8 in the Select List, but for the interim order of the High Court made in Writ Petition No. 6042 of 1989, the learned Judge should have heard that writ petition along with the writ petition out of which the present appeal by special leave has arisen and disposed of both of them by a common order, as the adoption of such course would have brought about a just result.

    4. In the result, we allow this appeal, set aside the order under appeal and request the High Court to club Writ Petition No. 4308 of 1989 along with Writ Petition No. 6042 of 1989 of Jai Prakash Gupta and decide both of them by a common order. No costs.

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    State Of U.P And Others v. Rajesh Kumar Misra .
    (Nov 17, 1992)