UNION OF INDIA Vs. SMT. NINA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner Union of India has filed this writ petition challenging the judgment and order dated 28.5.19899 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jaipur Bench, Jaipur (hereinafter shortly referred to as 'the Tribunal') whereby (the petitioner-Union of India has been directed to issue necessary orders for change of cadre of the respondent No.1 Smt. Nina Singh from the joint cadre of Manipur and Tripura to the State of Rajasthan or in the alternative to any other State for which the applicant has exercised her option as envisaged under Rule 5(2) of the I.P.S. Cadre Rules, 1954. This direction was issued by the Tribunal allowing the application of respondent No. 1 - Smt. Nina Singh after the impugned orders dated 25.10.1994 and 11.8.1995 rejecting the representation of respondent No.1 and repatriating her to the parent cadre of Manipur and Tripura cadre from the State of Rajasthan, was quashed and set aside.

(2.) The Facts and circumstances, in so far as it is relevant for deciding the controversy involved herein, are that the respondent No. Smt. Nina Singh and respondent No.2 Shri Rohit Kumar Singh were selected in the Indian Civil Services Examination in the year 1988, after which respondent No.1 Smt. Nina Singh was allotted I.P.S. Cadre of Manipur and Tripura and respondent No.2 was allotted IAS Cadre also at Manipur and Tripura. Thus both of them were allotted the joint cadre of Manipur and Tripura. It appears that in the year 1988, the law and order situation in north- east States of India and also in Jammu and Kashmir were seriously disturbed as a result of which one lady I.P.C. Officer also was killed by an extremist. The Government of India, therefore, reviewed the policy of allocating cadre to women officers of All India Service in north-east and for this purpose a meeting was held by the Civil Service Board on 24th Sept., 1990 wherein it was decided that the women officers other than those who hailed from the same State and who expressed their willingness, shall not he allocated those cadres for the next three years, which was to commence from the year 1990 and this was to follow till the year 1992. As regards change of cadre for women officers already allotted to the above cadres i.e. pre-1990 batches, the suggestions made by the Civil Service Board was to be examined separately. A decision was thereafter taken on 25th March, 1991 by the PMO that change of cadre be allowed to single women and all those married women Officers who are married to Officers' of All India Services, be allowed deputation. The Central Government consequently communicated this decision to the Government of Manipur by the letter dated 25.3.1991 stating that the Government of India has decided not to allocate any cadre of north-cast to women probationers of All India Services for a period of 3 years from the 1990 batch and while single women were perniitted to permanently change their cadre, married women were to be sent on short-term deputation to any other State Except their Home State.

(3.) In pursuance of this decision, the respondent No.2- Smt. Nina Singh opted for a short-term deputation to the State of Rajasthan which was allowed and hence she joined the State of Rajasthan cadre on 9th of June, 1992. She, thereafter also submitted a representation for permanent change of cadre and for retaining her in Rajasthan and the Government of Rajasthan also recommended in her favour. Subsequently, she learnt that another lady IAS-Officer Smt. Vandana Kumari Jaina who was selected in the 1979 batch and was allotted cadre of Manipur- Tripura to the State of Orissa on the ground that her husband belonged to Indian Audit and Account Service, which is a Central Service of the Government of India, whereas respondent No.1 Smt. Nina Singh was granted only a short-term deputation to Rajasthan. She, therefore, Iiled a representation before the Government of India for permanent change of cadre and for retaining her in Rajasthan. The representation of respondent No.1 Smt. Nina Singh did not meet with any response which prompted her to take recourse to the legal remedy and she, therefore, filed an application bearing O.A. No. 360/93 before the CAT at Jaipur. The respondent No. 1 therein sought to challenge the discrimination between married and unmarried lady officers and further challenged the unjust and unreasonable classification between lady I.P.C. Officers married to All India Service Officers and lady All India Service Officers married to Central Service Officers as being invalid and arbitrary. She also questioned the policy as per which option to change the case was being confined to women officers from 1990 batch onwards only. She had prayed therein that the decision of the Government of India contained in Communication dated 22.7.1991 was void and she further sought permission to allow her to exercise her option for change of cadre from the joint cadre of Manipur and Tripura to any other cadre. Finally she had prayed that the option exercised by her for short-term deputation to Rajasthan be converted into permanent change of cadre.