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Md. Islam & Ors. vs The Bihar State Electricity Board & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 852Decided 23 Aug 2022
Civil Appeal No. 5764 of 2022

Background

The appellants were former Junior Engineers/Overseers (later Assistant Engineers) of the Bihar State Electricity Board who had retired between 2000 and 2008. The Bihar government introduced an Assured Career Progression (ACP) Scheme for its own employees in 2003, stating it would apply retrospectively from 09.08.1999, but the Scheme explicitly excluded autonomous public undertakings unless they separately adopted it. The Electricity Board adopted the ACP Scheme only in 2005, and by a later notification clarified it would apply prospectively, only to staff appointed after 05.04.2005, not retrospectively to 1999. The appellants sought the retrospective benefit and monetary arrears, but their writ petitions were dismissed by both a Single Judge and a Division Bench of the Patna High Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the State's 2003 notification did not automatically confer any right on Electricity Board employees, since the Board is an autonomous statutory body that had already framed its own service regulations under Section 79(C) of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, and the notification itself excluded such undertakings unless they chose to adopt it. Since the Board exercised its discretion to adopt the Scheme only prospectively from 05.04.2005 (not retrospectively from 1999 as the State did for its own staff), and most appellants had already retired by then without raising any grievance until 2011, the Court found no case of arbitrariness, mala fide intent, or double-benefit denial. It affirmed that judicial review of an employer's chosen effective date would only be warranted if shown to be mala fide or for an ulterior motive, which was not demonstrated here. The appeal was dismissed as devoid of merit, upholding the concurrent findings of both High Court benches.

Lesson Learnt

A statutory autonomous body (like an Electricity Board) is not automatically bound by a government scheme meant for state employees; it can choose whether, when, and from what date to adopt such a scheme for its own staff, and courts will not interfere with that choice of date absent proof of bad faith.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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