VERMA, J. - (1.) INITIALLY the petitioner was appointed as Constable Driver in the year 1965. He was promoted to the post of Lance Naik Driver and then Naik Driver after passing List `b' and List `c' promotional test. As a driver, it is stated that he had worked efficiently and there was no compliant what-so-ever. He has been retired pre-maturely on 19. 12. 1990 (Annexure-1) when he had completed 25 years of service. He was paid three months notice pay. He is challenging the order Annexure-1 on the ground that he was promoted to the post of Head Constable in the month of May 1988 itself and after such promotion there was nothing against him so as to deprive him the full service time superannuation and the order of pre-mature retirement is violative of Rule 56 (j) of the fundamental rules and Rule 43 (c) (i) of the CRPF Rules.
(2.) ADMINISTRATIVE Review Committee of Northern Sector, CRPF, New Delhi was constituted to review the cases of the employees. The Committee had found that the petitioner is not fit for further retention in service and retired him in public interest. The petitioner is governed by the Central Reserve Police Force Rules, 1955 and Rule 43 relates to superannuation; the appointing authority has absolute right to retire any member of the Force who has attained the age of 50 years or put in 25 years of qualifying service by giving him notice of not less than three months in writing or three months pay. Rule 43 (a) (c) (i) reads as under:- "43. Superannuation.- (a) Retirement of a member of the Force shall take effect from the afternoon of the last day of the month in which such member attains the age of 55 years. In case, the date of birth of a member of the Force falls on the first day of a month, his retirement shall take effect from the after-noon of the last day of the month preceeding the month in which the member of Force attains the age of 55 years. (c) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule:- (i) the appointing authority shall, if it is of opinion that is in the public interest to do so, have absolute right to retire any members of the Force who has attained the age of 50 years or put in 25 years of qualifying service, by giving him notice of not less than three months in writing on three months pay and allowance in lieu of such notice. ' Similar is the provision provided in Rule 56 (j) of the CRPF Rules. The Government had issued instructions regarding pre-mature retirement of the Central Government employees and had laid down the procedure that their cases should be reviewed six months before they attain the age of 50 years by a committee. It provided that the committee shall be constituted and the cases shall be referred to the committee for recommendation to the effect whether the officer concerned should be retired from service in public interest or whether he should be retained. The criteria has also been provided that:- (i) the Government employee whose integrity is doubtful will be retired; (ii) The Government employees, who are found to be ineffective will also be retired; (iii) The basic consideration in identifying such employee should be the fitness/competence of the employee to continue in the post which he is holding; (iv) If he is not found fit to continue in his present post, his fitness/competence to continue in the lower post, from where he had been previously promoted, should be considered; (v) Entire service record of an officer should be considered at the time of review; (vi) No employee should ordinarily be retired on grounds of ineffectiveness if his service during the preceding 5 years, or where he has been promoted to a higher post during that 5 year's period, his service in the highest post, has been found satisfactory. (vii) No employee should ordinarily be retired on ground of ineffectiveness, if, in any event, he would be retired on superannuation within a period of one year from the date of consideration of his case. It was further provided that the pre-mature retirement should not be used to retire a government servant on grounds of specific acts of misconduct or as a short cut to initiating formal disciplinary proceeding; or for reduction of surplus staff or as a measure of effecting general economy without following the rules and instructions relating to retrenchment.
(3.) RELIANCE is placed on the judgment of Apex Court in Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Allahabad & Ors. vs. Izhar Hussain (1), and Union of India and others vs. Shaik Ali In the case of Senior Superintendent of Post Offices (supra) the compulsory retirement was setaside on the ground that Rule 2 (2) of the Pension Rules giving absolute powers to the authority to retire a person when he completed 30 years of service was held to be bad. Rule 2 (2) of F. R. 56 (j) read as under:- "f. R. 56 (j) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, the appropriate authority shall, if it is of the opinion that is in the public interest to do so, have the absolute right to retire any government servant after he has attained the age of fifty-five year by giving him notice of not less than three months in writing: Provided that nothing in this clause shall apply to a government servant referred to in clause (ee) or clause (f ). Rule 2 (2) An officer may retire from service any time after completing 30 years' qualifying service provided that he shall give in this behalf a notice in writing to the appropriate authority at least three months before the date on which he wishes to retire. Government may also require an officer to retire, any time after he has completed 30 years qualifying service provided that the appropriate authority shall give, in this behalf a notice in writing to the officer at least three months before the date on which he is required to retire, or three months' pay and allowances in lieu of such notice. ' In the case of Union of India vs. Shaik Ali (supra), where an employee was retired under the rules, on the same analogy, it was observed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the employee had secured promotions in due course. He was promoted as Assistant Yard Master in August 1984 and again promoted to the higher post on January 1986 and then retired in April 1986. The order was held to be punitive and not in public interest. ;