# BACHAWAT v. RAMASWAMJ

- **Citation:** [1968] 1 S.C.R. 407
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1967-08-31
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 1238 of 1966
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/bachawat-v-ramaswamj-4107
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

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STATE OF MYSORE & ANR.
11.
p, NARASING RAO
August 31, 1967
[K. N.
WANCHOO, C.J., R. S.
BACHAWAT, V.
RAMASWAMJ,
G. K. MITTER AND K. S. HEGDE, JJ.]
Constitution of India Arts. 14, 16-Non-matriculate Government
employee placed in lower pay scale-Matriculate employees doing
similar work placed in higher scale-Whether discriminationWhether higher general education relevant consideration for fi:ring
higher pa11 where technical qualifications are similar.
States Reorganisation Act, 1956, s. 115(7)-Respondent in .!ingle
cadre of matriculate and non-matriculate tracers in old Hyderabad
State-Placed in separate cadre of non-matriculates in new Mysore
State-Whether his conditions of service adversely affected.
The respondent was employed as a Tracer in the Engineering
Department in the erstwhile Hyderabad State where the cadre of
Tracers consisted of both matriculates as well as non-matriculates
and no distinction was made between them. As a result of the
reorganisation of States in 1956 he was allotted to the appellant
Mysore State where the cadre of Tracers was reorganised into two,
<me consisting of matriculate Tracers in. a higher scale of pay and
the other of non-matriculates in a lower scale. The respondent was
giVen the option either to remain in his old Hyderabad scale of
pay or to accept the. new scale applicable to non-matriculates. He
refused to exercise the option and claimed that the cadre of Tracers
should not have been divided into two grades and that no distinction
should have been made between matriculates and non-matriculates.
His claim was rejected by the Superintending Engineer on March
19, 1958 and he filed a writ petition in the High Court praying that
the order of the Superintending Engineer be quashed and for the
issue of writ in the nature of mandamus to fix his pay in the scale
P~':l'ibed for matriculate
Tracers. The High Court allowed the
pet1t!on, holding that there was no valid reason for making a dis-
~incbon as bot~ matriculate and non-matriculate Tracers were domg the same kmd of w~rk and the distinction made was in violation
of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
On appeal to this Court,
Held: Allowing the. appeal. H:igher educational qualifications
are relev!l"t conslderatrnns for fixmg a higher pay scale and the
classil,icati?n of two grades of Tracers in tlie new Mysore State was
not VIOiative of Arts. 14 or 16 of the Constitution.
Articles 14 and 16 form part of the same constitutiona~ code of
guarant~ and supplement each other.
In other words Art 16 Is
r~i an m~tance of the ·~plication of the general rule of eciuality
a . d?wn m Art. 14 and it should be construed as such
Hence
there is 110 denial of equality of opportunity unless the
r8on wh
complains of discrimination is equally situated with thr person 0~
persons who are alleged to have been favoured. (411E-F]
f.07
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1968] 1 S.C.11.
The provisions of Art. 14 or Art. 16 do not exclude the laying
A
do"n of selective tests, nor do they preclude the Government from
laying down qualifications for the post in question. Such qualifications need not be only technical andl it is open to the Government
to consider the general educational attainments of the candidates
and to give preference to candidates who have better educational
qualifications besides the technical proficiency of a Tracer. [ 411G412B]
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General Manager, Southern Railway
v.
Rangachari, [1962] 2
S.C.R 586, 596, referred to.
There was no force in the respondent's contention that because
of his having been in one grade with matriculate Tracers in the old
State an& on his being made to work in a separate no»-matriculate
grade, in the new State his conditions of service were odversely
affected in violation of s. 115 (7) of the States Reorganisation Act
~
1956. Furthermore the basis of promotion was merit and seniority
based on the inter-State seniority list prepared under the provisions
. of. the Act; thus the respondent's seniority had not been affected
and

## Text

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STATE OF MYSORE & ANR.
11.
p, NARASING RAO
August 31, 1967
[K. N.
WANCHOO, C.J., R. S.
BACHAWAT, V.
RAMASWAMJ,
G. K. MITTER AND K. S. HEGDE, JJ.]
Constitution of India Arts. 14, 16-Non-matriculate Government
employee placed in lower pay scale-Matriculate employees doing
similar work placed in higher scale-Whether discriminationWhether higher general education relevant consideration for fi:ring
higher pa11 where technical qualifications are similar.
States Reorganisation Act, 1956, s. 115(7)-Respondent in .!ingle
cadre of matriculate and non-matriculate tracers in old Hyderabad
State-Placed in separate cadre of non-matriculates in new Mysore
State-Whether his conditions of service adversely affected.
The respondent was employed as a Tracer in the Engineering
Department in the erstwhile Hyderabad State where the cadre of
Tracers consisted of both matriculates as well as non-matriculates
and no distinction was made between them. As a result of the
reorganisation of States in 1956 he was allotted to the appellant
Mysore State where the cadre of Tracers was reorganised into two,
<me consisting of matriculate Tracers in. a higher scale of pay and
the other of non-matriculates in a lower scale. The respondent was
giVen the option either to remain in his old Hyderabad scale of
pay or to accept the. new scale applicable to non-matriculates. He
refused to exercise the option and claimed that the cadre of Tracers
should not have been divided into two grades and that no distinction
should have been made between matriculates and non-matriculates.
His claim was rejected by the Superintending Engineer on March
19, 1958 and he filed a writ petition in the High Court praying that
the order of the Superintending Engineer be quashed and for the
issue of writ in the nature of mandamus to fix his pay in the scale
P~':l'ibed for matriculate
Tracers. The High Court allowed the
pet1t!on, holding that there was no valid reason for making a dis-
~incbon as bot~ matriculate and non-matriculate Tracers were domg the same kmd of w~rk and the distinction made was in violation
of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
On appeal to this Court,
Held: Allowing the. appeal. H:igher educational qualifications
are relev!l"t conslderatrnns for fixmg a higher pay scale and the
classil,icati?n of two grades of Tracers in tlie new Mysore State was
not VIOiative of Arts. 14 or 16 of the Constitution.
Articles 14 and 16 form part of the same constitutiona~ code of
guarant~ and supplement each other.
In other words Art 16 Is
r~i an m~tance of the ·~plication of the general rule of eciuality
a . d?wn m Art. 14 and it should be construed as such
Hence
there is 110 denial of equality of opportunity unless the
r8on wh
complains of discrimination is equally situated with thr person 0~
persons who are alleged to have been favoured. (411E-F]
f.07
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1968] 1 S.C.11.
The provisions of Art. 14 or Art. 16 do not exclude the laying
A
do"n of selective tests, nor do they preclude the Government from
laying down qualifications for the post in question. Such qualifications need not be only technical andl it is open to the Government
to consider the general educational attainments of the candidates
and to give preference to candidates who have better educational
qualifications besides the technical proficiency of a Tracer. [ 411G412B]
B
General Manager, Southern Railway
v.
Rangachari, [1962] 2
S.C.R 586, 596, referred to.
There was no force in the respondent's contention that because
of his having been in one grade with matriculate Tracers in the old
State an& on his being made to work in a separate no»-matriculate
grade, in the new State his conditions of service were odversely
affected in violation of s. 115 (7) of the States Reorganisation Act
~
1956. Furthermore the basis of promotion was merit and seniority
based on the inter-State seniority list prepared under the provisions
. of. the Act; thus the respondent's seniority had not been affected
and he was not deprived of any accrued benefits. [412F-G; 414C-D]
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1238 of
1966.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order diited
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January 15, 1963 of the Mysore High Court in Writ Petition No.
48 of 1962.
R. Gopalakrishnan and S. P. Nayar, for the appellants.
S. C. Mazumdar, M. M. Kshatriya and G. S. Chatter;ee, for
the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Ramaswami, J. This appeal is brought, by special leave,
from the judgment of the Mysore High Court dated January 15,
1963 in Writ Petition No. 48 of 1962 granting a writ in the nature
of mandam!fS directing the appellants to accord to the respondent
the benefit of both the revised higher pay scales for the Matriculate Tracers with effect from the respective dates on which they
came into force.
The respondent. Narasing Rao was employed as a tracer in
the Engineering Uepartment in the Ex-Hyderabad State on the
scale of pay Rs. 65-90. In the cadre of tracers of that State,
there were matriculates as well as non-matriculates. But there was
no distinction made in the scale of pay for that reason and all the
tracers were placed in the same scale. The respondent was a
non-matriculate. There was re-organisation of States in 1956 and
as a result of the re-organisation a part of the area of Hyderabad
State became part of the new Mysore State. The respondent was
allot.ted to the new Mysore State. After the transfer of the respondent to the new State, the cadre of tracers into which tra~rs
from Bombay State had also been absorbed, was re-organised
into two grades, one consisting of matriculate tracers who~e scale
of pay was fixed at Rs. 50-120 and the other of non-matnculates
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MYSOl\lt v. NAIW!INCI RA.'Q (iiama$Wami, J.)
409
at Rs. 40-80 with effect from January 1, 1957. It is necessary
to state that in the old Mysore State e\en before November 1,
1956 there were two grades of tracers, viz .. non-S.S.L.C. tracers
on the pay scale of Rs. 30-50 and S.S.L.C. tracers on the pay
scale of Rs. 40-60. As the respondent was a non,matriculate he
was given the option to accept the new scale of pay i.e., Rs. 40-80
or remain in the old Hyderabad scale of Rs. 65-90. But the
respondent refused to exercise the option and claimed that the
cadre of tracers in the new Mysore State should not have been
divided into two grades and that no distinction should have been
made between matriculates and non-matriculates. The respondent insisted that his pay should be fixed in the grade Rs. 50-120.
The claim was rejected by the Superintending Engineer on March
19, 1958 and the respondent was told that he could only be fixed
in the new revised scale of Rs. 40-80 as he had not passed the
S.S.L.C. examination. Meanwhile, by an order of the Government
dated February 27, 1961 the pay scales of the tracers in the new
State of Mysore were further revised and the revised pay scales
were directed to come into force with effect from January 1, 1961.
Under this Government order, the tracers who had passed the
S.S.L.C. examination were entitled to opt in favour of the pay
scale Rs. 80-150 and those who had not passed that examination
were entitled to get into pay scale of Rs. 70-1 IO. The respondent
claimed that he was entitled to the pay scale applicable to the
tracers who had passed the S.S.L.C. examination viz.. Rs. 80150. The claim of the respondent was rejected. Thereafter the
respondent filed a writ petition in the Mysore High Court praying that the order of the Superintending Engineer dated March
19. 1958 fixing his pay in the scale of non-matriculate tracers and
giving him the option to retain his old scale may be quashed and
for a writ in the nature of mandamm to fix his pay in the scale
prescribed for matriculate tracers. The High Court allowed the
writ petition, holding that there was a violation of the guarantees
given under Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitution and granted the
relief claimed by the respondent on the ground that th'ere was no
valid reason for making a distinction as both matriculate and
non-matriculate tracers were doing the same kind of work.
The first question to be considered in this appeal is whether
the crea!ion of two sca~es of tracers in the new Mysore State who
were domg the same kmd of work amounted to a discrimination
~hich violated the provisions of Arts. 14 and 16 of the Constitul!on.
The rele_van_t law on the subject is well-settled. Under Art. 16
o!. the c;onshtutton, the.re shall be equality of opportunity for all
ctl!zens m matters relatmg to employment or appointment to any
office under the State ~r to promotion from one office to a higher
office thereunder.
Article 16 of the Constitution is only an incident of the application of the concept of equality enshrined in
410
811PIWUI COVll'i' Bll:PORTS
[1968] 1 s.o.a.
Art. 14 thereof. It gives effect to the doctrine of equality in the
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matter of appointment and promotion. It follows that there can
be a reasonable classification of the employees for the purpose of
appointinent or promotion. The concept of equality in the matter of promotion can be predicated only when the promotees are
drawn from the same source. This Court in dealing with the
extent of protection of Art. 16(1) observed in General Manager,
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Southern Rly. v. Rangachari('):
"Thus construed it would be clear that matters relating to employment cannot be confined only to the initial
matters prior to the act of employment. The narrow construction would confine the application of Art. 16(1)
to the initial employment and nothing else; but that
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clearly is only one of the matters relating to employment.
The other matters relating to employment would inevitably be the provision as to the salary and periodical
increments therein, terms as to leave, as to gratuity, as
to pension and; as to the age of superannuation. These
are all matters re)ating to employment and they are, and
must be, deemed to be included in the expression 'matD
ters relating to employment' in Art. 16()) ................. .
This equality of opportunity need not be confused with
absolute equality as sudh. What is guaranteed is the
equality of opportunity and nothing more. Article 16(1)
or (2) does not prohibit the prescription of reasonable
rules for selection to any employment or appointment to
any office. Any provision as to the qualifications for the
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employment or the appoinment to office reasonably fixed
and applicable to all citizens would certainly be consistent with the doctrine of the equality of opportunity;
but in regard to employment, like other terms and cbnditions associated with and incidental to it, the promotion
to a selection post is also included in the matters relating to employment, and even in regard to such a promoF
tion to a selection post all that Art. J 6(1) guarantees is
equality of opportunity to all citizens who enter service ............... In this connection it may be relevant to
remember that Art. 16(1) and (2) really give effect to
the equaility before law guaranteed by Art . .14 and to the
prohibition of discrimination guaranteed by Art. 15(1).
The three provisions form part of the same constitutional
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code of guarantees and supplement each other. If that
be so there would be no difficulty in holding that
the m~tters relating to employment must in~lude all matters in relation to employment both prmr, and subsequent, to the employment which are incidental t~>. the
employment and form part of the terms and conditions
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of such employment."
(1) [1962] 2 S.C.R. 586, 596.
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ln'sou v. NilAIJING IU.O (RamaBWatnt, J.)
41i
The argument was stressed on behalf of the respondent that
success in the S.S.L.C. examination had no relevance to the post
of tracer and the tracers of the erstwhile State of Hyderabad who
were allotted to the new State of Mysore were persons similarly
situated and there was no justification for making a discrimination
against only some of them by creating a higher pay scale for tra·
cers who had passed the S.S.L.C. examination. It was contended
for the respondent that all the tracers who were allotted to the
new State of Mysore were persons who were turning out the same
kind of work and dischargin!l the same kind of duty and there
was no rational basis for making two classes of tracers, one consisting of those who had passed the S.S.L.C. examination and the
other consisting of those who had not. In our opinion, there is
no justification for the argument put forwar.d in favour
of the respondent. It is well-settled that though Art. 14
forbids class legislation, it does not forbid reasonable classifica·
tion for the purposes of legislation. When any impugned rule or
statutory provision is assailed on the ground that it contravenes
Art. 14, its validity can be sustained if two tests are satisfied. The
first test is that the classification on which it is founded must be
based on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or
things grouped together from others left out of the group; and the
second test is that the differentia in question must have a reason·
able relation to the object sought to be achieved by the rule or
statutory provision in question. In other words, there must be
some rational nexus between the basis of classification and the
object intended to be achieved by the statute or the rule.
As we
have already stat~. Arts. 14 and 16 form part of the same con·
stitutional code of guarantees and supplement each other. In
other words, Art. 16 is only an instance of the application of the
general rule of equality laid down in Art. 14 and it should be
construed as such. Hence, there is no denial of equality of opportunity unless the person who complains of discrimination is
equally situated with the person or persons who are alleged to
have been favoured, Article 16(1) does not bar a reasonable
classification of employees or reasonable tests for their selection.
It is true that the selective test adopted by the Government for
making two different classes will be violative of Arts. 14 and 16
if there is no relevant connection between the test prescribed and
the interest of public service. In other words, there must be a
reas~nable relation of the prescribed test to the suitability of the
candidate for the post or for employment to public service as
such. The provisions of Art. 14 or Art. 16 do not exclude the
laying down of selective tests, nor do they preclude the Government fro~ lay!ng down qualifications for the post in question.
Such quahfications need not be only technical but they can also
be general qualifications relating to the suitability of the candidate
for public service as such. It is therefore not right to say that in
the appointment to the post of tracers the Government ought to
4-12
SUPBEME OOUBT 1'EPORTS
[1968) 1 s.c.11.
have taken into account only the technical proficiency of the
candidates in the particular craft. It is open to the Government
to consider also the general educat'onal attainments of the candidates and to give preference to candidates who have a better educational qualification besides technical proficiency of a tracer.
The relevance of general education even to technical branches of
public service was emphasised long ago by Macaulay as follows:
"Men who have been engage(.], up to one and two
and twenty, in studies which have no immediate connexion with the business of any profes;ion, and the effect
of which is merely to open, to invigorate, and to enrich
the mind, will generally be found, in the business of every
profession, superior to men who have, at eighteen or
nineteen, devoted themselves to the special studies of
their calling. Indeed, early superiority in literature and
science generally indicates the existence of some qualities
which are securities against vice-industry, self-denial, a
taste for pleasures not sensual, a laudable desire of
honourable distinction, a still more laudable desire to
obtain the approbation of· friends and relations. We.
therefore, think that the intellectual test about to be established will be found in practice to be also the best moral
test can be devised."
(Hansard, Series, 3 CXXVIII. 754, 755)
In our opinion, therefore. higher educational qualifications such
as success in the S.S.L.C. examination are relevant considerations
for fixing a higher pay scale for tracers who have passed the
S.S.L.C. examination and the classification of two grades of tracers in the new Mysore State, one for matriculate tracers with a
higher pay scale and the other for non-matriculate tracers with a
lower pay scale is not violative of Arts. 14 or I 6 of the Constitution.
We proceed to consider the next question raised on behalf
of the respondent, viz., that the condition of service of the respondent has been adversely affected by the creation of two new
pay scales and that there was a violation of the provisions of.s. 115
of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (Act No. 37 of 1956) which
states:
"115.
Provisions relating to other services-(!)
Every person who immediately
before. the appointed
day is serving in connection with the affairs of the Union
under the administrative control of the LieutenantGovernor or Chief Commissioner in any of the existing
State of Ajmer, Bhopal, Coorg, Kutch and Vindhya Pradesh, or is serving ill connection with the affairs of any
of the existing States of Mysore, Punjab, Patiala and
East Punjab States Union and Saurashtra shall, as from
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MYSORE v. NARASING RAO (Ramaswami, J.)
413
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that day, be deemed to have been allotted to serve in
connection with the affairs of the successor State to that
existing State.
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(2) Every person who immediately before the appointed· day is serving in connection with the affairs of
an existing State part of whose territories is transferred
to another State by the provisions of Part II shall, as
from that day, provisionally continue to serve in connection with the affairs of the principal successor State to
that existing State unless he is required by general or
special order of the Central Government to serve provisional! y in connection with the affairs of any other successor State.
(3) As soon as may be after the appointed day, the
Central Government shall, by general or special order,
determine the successor State to which every person
referred to in sub-section (2) shall be finally allotted for
service and the date with effect from which such allotment shall take effect or be deemed to have taken effect.
(4) Every person who is finally allotted under the
provisions of sub-section (3) to a successor State shall,
if he is not already serving therein be made available
for serving in that successor State from such date as
may be agreed upon between the Governments concerned, and in default of such agreement, as may be determined by the Central Government.
(7) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect
after the appointed day the operation of the provisions
of Chapter I of Part XIV of the Constitution in relation
to the determination of the co0ditions of service of persons serving in connection with the affairs of the Union
or any State:
Provided that the conditions of service applicable
immediately before the appointed day to the case of any
person referred to in sub-section (I) or sub-section (2)
shall not be varied to his disadvantage except with the
previous approval of the Central Government."
It was stated that in the erstwhile Hyderabad State the respondent was kept in one grade along with matriculate tracers and
there has been a violation of the proviso to s. 115(7) of the States
Reorganisation Act, 1956, because in the new Mysore State the
respondent has been made to work in a separate grade of nonH
matriculate tracers. We do not think there is any substance. in
this contention. We do not
propose, in this case, to consicler
what is the full scope and meaning of the phrase "Conditions of
L/S~SCI-13
414SUPllBllB COURT R.ll:FORTS
L 1968] 1 s.c.:a,
service" occurring in the proviso to s. 115 of the States Reorgani
sation Act.
It is sufficient for us to say that, in the present case,
there is no violation of the proviso and the respondent is not right
in contending that his condition of service is adversely affected
because he is made to work in the grade of non-matriculate tracers
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in the new Mysore State. It was alleged by the respondent that
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according to Hyderabad rules 20 per cent of the vacancies of SubOverseers were to be from the grade of tracers and for those who
were not promoted there was another grade of Rs. 90-120 and
if the order of the Superintending Engineer dated March 19,
1958 was to stand, the respondent's chance of promotion would
be affected. In their counter-affidavit the appellants have said
that JO per cent of the tracers in the new State of Mysore are en·
titled to be promoted to the grade of Assistant Draftsmen in the
scale of Rs. 110-220. The basis of promotion to the higher
grade wa8 the inter-State seniority list prepared under the pro vi·
sions of the States Reorganisation Act. It was stated that the
seniority of the respondent was not affected and he had not been
deprived of any accrued benefits. The basis of promotion to the
higher grades was selection based on merit-cum-seniority. In
other words, both matriculate and non-matriculate tracers were
eligible for promotion on the basis of the inter-State seniority list
prepared for this Department. In our opinion, Counsel on behalf
of the respondent is unable to make good his submission :in thi!
::meet of the case.
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For the reasons expressed we hold that the judgment of thr.
Mysore High Court dated January 15. 1963 in Writ Petition Nr
48 of 1962 should bf set aside and this appeal ~nust be allowe.
But, as directed by this Court in its order granting special leJve
dated November 6. 1963, the appellant State of Mysore will pay
the cost~ of the reSPJndent.
R.K.P.S.
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