P BALAKOTAIAH A SURYAPRASAD RAO DHONDBA ARJUN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals are directed against the orders of the High Court of Nagpur dismissing the writ petitions filed by the appellants herein, and as they arise out of the same facts and raise the same points for determination, they were heard together, and will be disposed of by a common judgment.

(2.) The facts in Civil Appeal No. 46 of 1956- the facts in the connected appeals are similar and do nor require to be stated - are that the appellant was employed in 1939 in the Bengal Nagpur Railway as a clerk in the workshop at Nagpur. In 1946 when the State took over the administration of the Railway, it have option to the employees to continue in service on the terms set out in a document 5-7-1946. The appellant accepted those terms and continued in service on the conditions mentioned in that document. Acting in exercise of the powers conferred by Ss. 241 (2), 247 and 266 (3) of the Government of India Act, 1935. The Governor-General promulgated certain rules called the Railway Services (Safeguarding of National Security) Rules, 1949 hereinafter referred to as the Security Rules, and they came into force on 14-5-1949.

(3.) It will be convenient at this stage to set out the Security Rules, in so far as they are material for the purpose of these appeals, as it is the validity of these rules that is the main point for determination by us. Rules 3, 4, 5 and 7 are as follows: