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Judgment
In these two writ petitions, filed as a common petition, the petitioners who are Reserve Police Head constables in the regular Company of the Armed Reserve Establishment of the Karnataka Police Force have challenged the promotions of respondents 2,3,4, and 5 as violative of the Karnataka State Police Service Recruitment Rules 1967 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules).
The 1st petitioner was appointed as a Reserve Police Constable on 5-2-1951 in the erstwhile State of Mysore. The 2nd petitioner was also appointed earlier on 2-4-1946. On re-organisation of States, with effect from 1-11-1956 they became allotted to the new State of Mysore (Karnataka). In the new State, the 1st petitioner was promoted as Reserve Head Constable on 11-11-1970, while the 2nd petitioner was promoted to the next promotional cadre of Reserve Head Constable on 6-3-1971.
It is averred by the petitioners that in the Armed Reserve Establishment of the State Police Force, after the initial recruitment in the cadre of Reserve Police Constables (which is the lowest cadre), the said police constables are allotted to different divisions within the Armed Reserve Establishment such as Motor Transport Section, Armoury Section and Band Section and those constables who are not so allotted constitute the Regular Company. In accordance with the Rules, the promotional avenues are open to the initially recruited Reserve Police Constables. The petitioners have alleged that the promotional cadres are:
(1) Head Constables, (2) Assistant Reserve Sub Inspectors, (3) Reserve Sub Inspectors; and (4) Reserve Police Inspectors.
The cadre strength of the different cadres mentioned above as fixed by the respondent has been furnished by the petitioners and the same is re-produced below:
Res. Police Insprs. Res. Sub-Insprs. Asst. Res. Sub-Insprs. Head Constables. Police Constables. Total.
Regular Company 11 30 27 211 1365 1644
Motor Transport Section. 1 1 7 105 319 433
Armoury 1 1 2 5 14 23
Band Section - 1 1 6 39 47
The petitioners have further contended that in the Rules, separate avenues of promotions are provided for persons belonging to the Armed Reserve Section of Karnataka State Police Force. It is relevant to state at this stage itself that the Karnataka Police force is made up of the following nine divisions as evidenced by the Rules.
(1) Civil Police Force.
(2) Armed Reserve Police Force.
(3) Police Wireless Branch.
(4) Mounted Company, Palace Guards.
(5) Dismounted Company, Palace Guards.
(6) Government Orchestra-English Band.
(7) Government Orchestra, Karnataka Band.
(8) Finger Print Bureau.
(9) Women Police.
But we are only concerned with the second of the divisions, viz., Reserve Armed Police Force.
The Petitioners have alleged that the respondents Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 were originally appointed as Police Constables and shortly after their recruitment they were transferred to the Motor Transport Section. It was only as Reserve Constables in the Motor Transport Section that they got promotions as Head Constables on 6-3-1969, 12-11-1968, 6-11-1968 and 6-3-1969 respectively. The petitioners have pointed out that respondents 2 to 5 secured promotions to the cadre of Head Constables even before they had completed five years of service as ordinary Reserve Police Constables from the date of their respective recruitment. On account of their allocation to the Motor Transport division, it is alleged, they also secured promotions to the Cadre of Head Constables, which are earlier than that of the petitioners who are far seniors having regard to their dates of appointment.
These facts are not disputed in the Statement of objections filed by the 1st respondent. It is further alleged by the petitioners that respondent No. 2 was promoted to the post of Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector in the General Section, that is to say the Section of Armed Reserve Force to which the Reserve Police Constables are not specifically allotted as stated earlier. Similarly, respondent-3 was promoted on 1-4-1977, respondent-4 was promoted on 19-1-77 and respondent-5 was promoted on 1-11-1977, as Assistant Reserve Sub Inspectors.
The petitioners have asserted in the petition that having regard to the length of service, the date of entry into service and their continuation in the Regular Company in which they are working as they were not specifically transferred to Motor Transport Division, Band Division or Armoury Division, they alone were eligible for promotion on the relevant dates on which respondents 2 to 5 were promoted to the posts of Assistant Reserve Sub Inspectors of Police in the Regular Company Division having regard to the fixation of cadre strength which has been extracted earlier and having regard to the scheme of the Rules. The petitioners have contended that the promotions of respondents 2 to 3 as Assistant Reserve Police Sub-Inspectors in the Regular Company contravenes the Rules apart from over-looking their seniority. Aggrieved by the promotions of respondents 2 to 5, they have come before this Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution seeking a declaration that the promotions of respondents 2 to 5 in the cadre of Assistant Reserve Sub-Inspectors, is illegal and therefore invalid, with a prayer for further direction to respondent No. 1 to consider the case of the petitioners for promotion with effect from the earliest of the dates on which respondents 2 to 5 were promoted.
In reply to these allegations, in the statement of objections filed on behalf of the 1st respondent most of the facts are not disputed except to state that the 3rd respondent, from the point of view of seniority in length of service, is senior to the 1st petitioner. But this does not touch upon the question which is raised in these writ petitions. The only relevant portion in the statement of objections which is required to be noticed is as follows:
"As per Cadre and Recruitment Rules, Armed Head Constables are promoted as Assistant Reserve Sub-Inspectors by selection from the Cadre of Reserve Head Constables, Band Head Constables, Armourer Head Constables and Motor Transport Head Constables. Though Head Constables working in Band Section, Armoury and Motor Transport Section perform different specialised duties, they are nevertheless Reserve Head Constables only. Therefore a common seniority list of all the Head Constables is drawn up strictly according to seniority in the Cadre of Head Constables."
If, this is the defence, the same is liable to be rejected having regard to the Rules. Item No. 4 of the Rules pertaining to the Assistant Reserve Sub-Inspectors of Police reads as follows:
Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector of Police. By promotion by selection from the cadre of Reserve Head Constable, Band Head Constable, Armourer Head Constable and Motor Transport Head Constable. Qualification: Must have put in service of not less than six years including service of Reserve Head Constable for a period of not less than one year. Superintendent/Deputy Commissioner, City Armed Reserve.
1 2 3 4 5
It is apparently on the basis of what is contained in the middle column or column No. 3 that the defence, as extracted above, has been put forward. But this overlooks what is contained in the items that follow in the Rules. Item No. 5 speaks of Motor Transport Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector. Item No. 6 speaks of Band Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector in City Armed Reserve. Bangalore. Item No. 7 speaks about Armourer Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector of Police in City Armed Reserve, Bangalore. Item No. 8 which is important in deciding this case pertains to Reserve Head Constables and the relevant portion for our purpose is extracted below:
Reserve Head Constable. By promotion by selection from the cadre of Reserve Police Constable etc., Qualification Must have put in not less than 5 years service as Police Constable and must have passed the Kannada Language Test unless exempted under the Mysore State Civil services (Kannada Language Test and Departmental Examinations) Rules, 1962. Superintendent/Deputy Commissioner City Arms Reserve.
1 2 3 4 5
It is to be observed from the Rules that under Item No. 8 there is not only enumeration of Reserve Head Constables but Driver Head Constable at item No. 9, Motor Mechanic Head Constable at Item No. 10. Band Head Constable at item No. 11 and Armourer Head Constable at item No. 12.
As stated earlier, the Reserve Police Constable is recruited by direct recruitment as it is the lowest rung in the ladder.
Shri M. Narayanaswamy, the learned Counsel for the petitioners has strongly contended that it is on account of the categorisation of posts of Head Constables, in the various Sub-Divisions, in the Armed Reserve Police Force Division itself that item No. 4 should be interpreted in such a way that it does not come into conflict with the other items which follow it. In fact his arguments arc realistic and pragmatic. What he has really contended for is that having regard to the prescription by the 1st respondent himself of the Cadre strength of all the five categories of personnel in the various sub-divisions, promotional avenues must be confined to the respective sub-divisions depending on the cadre strength in each of those sub-divisions vis-a-vis the promotional posts. At item No. 4, Column No. 4, for qualifications, it is provided that the various categories of Constables mentioned in Column No. 3 must have put in service for not less than six years including service as Reserve Head Constable, for a period of not less than one year. It is this prescription of qualification in Column No. 4 that causes strain on the interpretation of this particular Rule regarding the promotion to the cadre of Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector of Police. As noticed earlier at Item No. 8, Reserve Head Constable is specifically provided for by promotion from the cadre of Reserve Police Constable. If this is strictly construed, the qualification in column No. 4 at item No. 4 should be understood to mean that there is a presumption that there is no allocation to various sub-divisions unless the Reserve Head Constable had put in a minimum one year of service. Nevertheless, having regard to the provisions made for Head Constables in other divisions, item No. 8 Reserve Head Constable must be read to mean only the Reserve Constable who is in the Regular Company not having been allotted to other sub-divisions. If it is understood in this manner, then the prescription of qualification in column No. 4 at item No. 4 has reference to Head Constables as such, and the word ''Reserve'' has to be ignored. If the word ''Reserve'' is so ignored in column No. 4, then Column No. 3 can have definite and purposeful meaning. I think, that if promotion vacancies occur in the higher cadre of Assistant Sub Inspector of Police, depending on the vacancy in that cadre strength promotions should be made having regard to the qualifications prescribed. Otherwise, if it is understood in any other way, the total scheme of the Rules in regard to recruitment of reserve police starting at item No. 1 and ending at item No. 13 does not make any sense. Having regard to the scheme of separation of Reserve Police Constables into different sub-divisions and providing for promotional avenues in different sub-divisions on fixed cadre strength, it cannot be said that in Column No. 3 at item No. 4, all the integrated Head Constables are eligible for promotions to any one of the posts in the higher cadre. It must be noted that promotional avenue to the Head Constables is available only in the sub-division to which they belong and in which they work as Reserve Constables and the posts are not interchangeable having regard to the different nature of the duties they perform. Thus viewed, the defence put forward by the 1st respondent that a common cadre seniority list of Head Constables has been maintained and promotions of respondents 2 to 5 have been made on the basis of such a common list has no meaning as it cannot be accepted that the Head Constable in the Band Division can perform the duties of an Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector of Police in the Armourer Section or in Band Section, because he is really not qualified and trained to function in other capacities. Similarly, if the position is reversed, it serves no purpose in the scheme of the Rules to promote Reserve Head Constable of the Regular Company to the Post of Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector in the Band Division because it cannot be accepted that having been in the Regular Company he is in a position to conduct the affairs of an orchestra or a Band. The Rules in question must be so construed as to give meaning and substance to all of the rules without rendering any one of them redundant or otiose. This is one of the well settled principles governing interpretation of statutes.
It must be noticed with regret that the Rules have not been framed with the degree of care and caution that was required. Having regard to the division of the entire Police Force itself into nine divisions and creating sub-divisions of the main divisions and in the absence of such careful framing of Rules, the Court is bound to ignore the word ''Reserve'' in column No. 4 of item No, 4 and interpret item No. 4 to be promotion of respective Head Constables integrated in Column No. 3, to the respective sub-divisional posts in the higher cadre.
The cadre strength determined, as asserted by the petitioners is supported by the information furnished by the learned Government Pleader on behalf of respondent No. 1. But for minor changes in the number of Head Constables in the Armoury and Band divisions and the total number of Ordinary Reserve Police Constables, there does not appear to be any difference.
In the result, the promotion of respondents 2 to 5 from the posts of Head Constables in their respective sub-divisions to the promotional posts as Assistant Sub Inspectors of Reserve Police in the Regular Company is definitely not only unwarranted but also contrary to the scheme of the Rules.
In the result, the petitioners must succeed. It is necessary at this stage to notice that respondents 2 to 5, though served, have remained unrepresented and any defence that they might have put forward in regard to their promotions are not available to this Court, Nevertheless, their promotions are liable to be quashed and they arc so quashed. A direction will also issue to the 1st respondent to consider the cases of the petitioners for promotion in the cadre of Assistant Reserve Sub Inspector in the Regular Company, without considering the claims of other Head Constables in the other Sub-divisions than the Regular Company, from the date on which respon- dents 2 to 5 were promoted. In the circumstances of the case, there will be no order as to costs.