201 of 1952 under article 32 of the Constitution for the enforcement of fundamental rights
B K Varmaand G C Mathur for the petitioner
MC Setalvad Attorney General for India Porus A Mehta with him for the respondent
March 13
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BOSE J
This is a petition under article 32 of the Constitution in which the petitioner seeks redress for what according to him is a breach of his fundamental rights under articles 14 and 161 of the Constitution
It was argued at considerable length by the petitioner in person
Then when our judgment was nearly ready he put in a petition asking for a rehearing and for permission to file some fresh papers
When that was refused he came again on anotherday and asked for leave to engage an agent and appear through counsel as he felt he had not been able to do justice to his case in person
It may be mentioned that though he had originally engaged an agent he dismissed him before the hearing when he appeared in person We granted his request and counsel reargued the case for him but has not carried the matter any further
The facts are these
657 In October1945 the petitioner was employed by the Government of India on a five year contracting the Directorate General of Resettlement and Employment of the Ministry of Labour
This was after selection by the Federal Public Service Commission
After a short period of practical training he was posted in January 1946 at Jabalpur as the Manager of the Sub Regional Employment Exchange and was later confirmed in this appointment
This contract of service was due to expire in 1950
Shortly before its expiration the Government of India made him a new offer embodied in its letter dated the 30th June 1950 to continue him in service on the expiry of his contract on the terms specified in that letter
Among them were the following 3 Other conditions of service On the termination of your contract you will be allowed to continue in your post temporarily for the period of the Resettlement and Employment Organisation and will be governed by the Central Civil Services Temporary Service Rules 1949 unless you are a permanent Government servant
 He was asked in the letter to intimate to the Ministry of Labour whether he was willing to continue in service on those terms and he admits that he accepted the offer and continued in service He was not a permanent Government servant though it was contended in argument that he was for he was on a five year contract and the work for which he was employed namely Resettlement and Employment was itself only of a temporary character
Therefore the Temporary Service Rules applied
On those rules  rule 5 is material
It runs as follows 5 a The service of a temporary Government servant who is not in quasi permanent service shall be liable to termination at any time by notice in writing given either by the Government servant to the appointing authority or by the appointing authority to the Government servant
658 b The period of such notice shall be one month unless otherwise agreed to by the Government and by the Government servant
 Quasi permanent service is defined in the rules and it is clear that the petitioner does not come within that class
It is also an undisputed fact that there was no agreement between the petitioner and Government regarding the period of the notice
Therefore according to this rule which was a term in the petitioner s contract of further service his services were liable to termination at any time by  one month s notice in writing
This notice was given on 25th November 1950 and he was told that his services would terminate on the expiry of one month from 1st December 1950
A large field was covered in the course of the arguments and had the matter not been re argued we would for the petitioner s satisfaction have dealt with the contentions raised more fully than will be necessary now that counsel has appeared
The petition is under article 321 of the Constitution and so it must be shown that a fundamental right has been infringed
It was argued that the rights infringed are the ones conferred by articles 14 and 161
Taking article 14 first it must be shown that the petitioner has been discriminated against in the exercise or enjoyment of some legal right which is open to others who are similarly situated
The rights which he says have been infringed are those confered by article 31 1
He says he has either been dismissed or removed from service without the safeguards which that article confers
In our opinion article 31 1 has no application because this is neither a dismissal nor a removal from service nor is it a reduction in rank
It is an ordinary case of a contract being termi nated by notice under one of its clauses
The services in India have long been afforded certain statutory guarantees and safeguards against arbitrary dismissal or reduction in rank Under 659 section 240 of the Government of India Act 1935 the safeguards were limited to those two cases
Under
the present Constitution a third was added namely removal from service
In order to understand the difference between dismissal and removal from service it will be necessary to turn to the Rule which governed and with modifications still govern the services in India because of article 313 of the Constitution
Part XII of the Civil Services Classification Control and Appeal Rules relating to Conduct and Discipline includes rule 49 which sets out the various penalties to which a member of the services can be subjected for indiscipline and misconduct
They are seven in number and include censure suspension reduction in rank removal from service and dismissal from service
The Act of 1935 selected only two of these possible penalties as serious enough to merit statutory safeguards namely reduction in rank and dismissal from service The Constitution has added a third to the list
The distinction which is drawn between the two is explained in rule 49
There is first removal from service which does not disqualify from future employment  and there is next dismissal from service which ordinarily disqualifies from future employment
 Then follows an Explanation The discharge c of a person engaged under contract in accordance with the terms of his contract does not amount to removal or dismissal within the meaning of this rule
 These terms are used in the same sense in article 3ll
It follows that the article has no application here and so no question of discrimination arises for the law whose protection the petitioner seeks has no application to him
There was no compulsion on the petitioner to enter into the contract he did
He was as free under the law as any other person to accept or to reject the 660 offer which was made to him
Having accepted he still has open to him all the right  and remedies available to other persons similarly situated to enforce any rights under his contract which have been denied to him assuming there are any and to pursue in the ordinary courts of the land such remedies for a breach as are open to him to exactly the same extent as other persons similarly situated
He has not been discriminated against and he has not been denied the protection of any laws which others similarly situated could claim
The remedy of a writ is misconceived
Article 161 is equally inapplicable
The whole matter rests in contract
When the petitioner s first contract the five year one came to an end he was not a permanent Government servant and Government was not bound either to re employ him or to continue him in service
On the other hand it was open to Government to make him the offer it did of a continuation of his employment on a temporary and contractual basis
Though the employment was continued it was in point of fact and in the eyes of the law under a new and fresh contract which was quite separate and distinct from the old even though many of its terms were the same
Article 161 deals with equality of opportunity in all matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State
The petitioner has not been denied any opportunity of employment or of appointment
He has been treated just like any other person to whom an offer of temporary employment under these conditions was made
His grievance when analysed is not one of personal differentiation but is against an offer of temporary employment on special terms as opposed to permanent employment
But of course the State can enter into contracts of temporary employment and impose special terms in each case provided they are not inconsistent with the Constitution and those who choose to accept those terms and enter into the contract are bound by them even as the State is bound
When the employment is permanent there are certain statutory guarantees but in the absence of 661 any such limitations government is subject to the qualification mentioned above as free to make special contracts of service with temporary employees engaged in works of a temporary nature as any other employer
Various matters relating to the merits of the case were referred to but we express no opinion about whether the petitioner has other rights which he can enforce in other ways
We are dealing here with a writ under article 32 to enforce a fundamental right and the only point we decide is that no fundamental right has been infringed
When the matter was first argued we had decided not to make any order about costs but now that the petitioner has persisted in reopening the case and calling the learned Attorney General here for a second time we have no alternative but to dismiss the petition with costs
Petition dismissed
Agent for the petitioner Bajinder Narain


Summary:
The petitioner was employed by the Government of India on a five year contract in the Resettlement and Employment Directorate of the Ministry of Labour
When his contract was due to expire the Government made him a new offer to continue him in service in his post temporarily for the period of the Resettlement and Employment Organisation on the condition that he will be governed by the Central Civil Services Temporary Service Rules 1949 which provided for termination of the contract by month s notice on either side
He accepted the offer and continued in service but subsequently his services were terminated after giving him one month s notice The petitioner applied for relief under article 32 1 of the Constitution alleging that his funda mental rights under articles 311 14 and 16 1 of the Constitution were infringed Held i that article 311 had no application as this was not a case of dismissal or removal from service nor a reduction in rank but only an ordinary case of a contract being terminated by notice under one of its clauses the difference between dismissal and 656 removal being that the former ordinarily disqualifies from future employment but not the latter ii article 14 had no application as he had not been discriminated against and had not been denied the protection of any laws which others similarly situated could claim iii article 16 was equally inapplicable as the petitioner was not denied equal opportunity in a matter relating to appointment or employment but had been treated just like any other person to whom an offer of temporary employment under these conditions was made
The State can enter into contracts of temporary employment and impose special terms in each case provided they are not inconsistent with the Constitution and those who choose to accept those terms and enter into the contract are bound by them even as the State is bound