DICTION Civil appeals No 18 15 of 1982 etc
From the Judgment and Order dated the 2011982 of the Allahabad High Court in CWP No 2701 of 1981
Shankar Ghosh RK Jain RB Mehrotra Ms Abha Sharma Sangira Tripathi Mandal RP Singh Harish N Salve DK trg Gopal Subramanium Mrs Shobha Dikshit CP Pandey SK pharwal MP Sarawala RS Sodhi DD Gupta Shakil Ahmed ed KRR Pillai MA Firoz RD Upadhyay US Prasad and VI
Nayar for the appearing parties
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 173 RANGANATH MISRA J
Special leave granted
This bunch of cases either by special leave or under Article 32 of the Constitution is by a set of Lekhpals serving in the State of Uttar Pradesh whose services have been terminated
Their Writ Petitions to the High Court have not been entertained on the ground that alternate relief is available before the UP Public Services Tribunal set up under UP Act No 17 of 1976
In the Civil Appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition No 8826 of 1982 the High Court examined the question at length as to whether the jurisdiction of the High Court has been taken away by the setting up of the Services Tribunal under the UP Act
We have heard counsel for the parties at some length as apart from this group of cases some other cases involving the same question have also been heard and those matters have been disposed of excepting this bunch
On merit we are of the view that the decisions of the High Court should be vacated and in each case the dispute shall stand transferred to the Services Tribunal for disposal in accordance with law
The Tribunal shall dispose of these cases within six months from the date of the receipt of this order
We are at the view as we have already indicated else where that the Services Tribunal set up under the UP Act No 1776 should be withdrawn and an appropriate tribunal under the Central of 1985 should be set up
Such a Tribunal if constituted would be in accord with the service jurisprudence which is developing
Several States have already constituted such Tribunals under the Central Act
The Tribunal set up under the Central Act is deemed to be one in terms of Article 323A of the Constitution
When such a Tribunal is set up the High Court s jurisdiction in regard to service disputes is taken away and the Tribunal functions as a substitute of the High Court
More or less this service jurisprudence has almost gained ground and there is no justification as to why the Services Tribunal of a different pattern should operate in the State of Uttar Pradesh with inadequate powers to deal with every situation arising before it
A Tribunal set up under the Central would have plenary powers to deal with every aspect of the dispute and would be in accord with the current thinking on this subject matter at differ ent levels
We are therefore of the view that the UP Services Tribunal should be substituted by a Tribunal under the Central as early as possi ble in order that there may be uniformity of functioning and the High Court may be relieved of the 174 burden of dealing with the service disputes as is the situa tion at present
In course of the hearing a statement showing yearwise institution disposal and pendency before the Public Serv ices Tribunals has been placed before us and we extract the same for convenience STATEMENT SHOWING THE YEARWISE DISPOSAL FILING AND PENDING CASES BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICE TRIBUNALS Year Noof Opening Cases filed Total Disposal Closing Tribunals Balance during the during Balance year year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1977 Two 2568 2156 4724 1744 2980 1978 Three 3700 6834 10534 4761 5773 1979 Four 5773 2710 8483 2826 5657 1980 Five 5657 2690 8347 2689 5658 1981 Five 5658 3192 8651 2290 6561 1982 Five 6561 3072 9633 1718 7915 1983 Five 7915 2206 10121 1988 8133 1984 Five 8133 2461 10594 1178 9416 A cursory analysis would show that while in 1977 two Tribu nals only were functioning in 1984 as many as five Tribu nals came to be set up
The chart indicates that while institutions have sizeably fallen or remained more or less constant there has been rapid fall in the disposal of cases
For instance while in 1978 4761 cases have been disposed of in the years 1982 and 1984 the numbers have been 17 18 and 1178 respectively
Even five Tribunals in place of two have obviously not been meeting the mounting challenge of institutions
Learned counsel for the State of Uttar Pradesh was not able to indicate any specific reason as to why while the strength of Tribunals went up there was a proportionate fall in the disposals
Again we find that 50 to 60 of the institutions are being attended to which certainly would lead accumulation to mount up
These aspects require to be noticed seriously and the State Government should have applied its mind if 175 any system of review was in force
Apparently the perform ance was not being reviewed either by the Tribunal itself or by any other agency
We have been told that the Services Tribunal mostly consists of Administrative Officers and the judicial element in the manning part of the Tribunal is very small
As was pointed out by us in SP Sam path Kurnar vs Union of India  Ors   the disputes require judicial handling and the adjudication being essentially judicial in character it is necessary that an adequate number of Judges of the appropriate level should man the Services Tribunals
This would create the appropriate temper and generate the atmosphere suitable in an adjudicatory Tribunal and the institution as well would command the requisite confidence of the disputants
We have indicated in the connected matter that steps should be taken to replace the Services Tribunals by Tribunals under the Central of 1985
That would give the Tribunal the necessary colour in terms of Article 323A of the Constitution
As a conse quence of setting up of such Tribunals the jurisdiction of the High Court would be taken away and the Tribunals can with plenary powers function appropriately
The disputes which have arisen on account of the Services Tribunals not having complete jurisdiction to deal with every situation arising before it would then not arise
We have pointed out that notice has been issued in a later case for the State s response to the question of Tribunals to be located at different parts of the State
State of Uttar Pradesh territorially is the second largest State in India but considering the population it comes first
Almost every part of the State is well advanced and service litigation in such setting is likely to arise every where
To locate the seat of the Tribunals at the State capital in such a situation is not appropriate
The accepted philosophy relevant to the question today is that justice should be taken to everyone s doors
This of course is not a statement which should be taken literally but undoubtedly the redressal forum should be available nearabout so that litigation may be cheap and the forum of ventillating griev ance may not be difficult to approach
Keeping that in view which is a legitimate consideration it would be appropriate for the State Government to consider firstly increase in the number of Benches of the Tribunal and secondly to locate them not at the same station but at various sectors or depending upon the number of institution of disputes and pendency at the level of independent Commissionerate or by clubbing two or three of them together
This of course is a matter which would require further 176 examination at the administrative level and therefore we express no opinion regarding location of such Tribunal although we are of the definite view that there should be Tribunals available in different parts of the State and all the Benches of the Tribunal should not be located at one place
The writ Petitions and the civil appeals are disposed of with these directions
 NPV Petition  Appeals disposed of


Summary:
The Petitioners were employed by the respondent Insti tute for carrying out assignments of research projects undertaken by the Institute
The employment of three of the four petitioners was terminated
The petitioners filed Writ Petitions in this Court alleging that they were continuously employed for more than 10 15 years and had reached an age in life where they were no more entitled to enter into Govern ment service or any other suitable employment and with the deprivation of their employment they were deprived of the source of sustenance and the nation of their useful service as they had picked up requisite expertise which would be useful in carrying out any normal research project
In the common affidavit filed on behalf of the respond ents the respondent Institute stated that the employment was project wiseand once the project was complete the job came to an end and the services of the petitioners were no longer required in the absence of any research project and that the fortuitous circumstances of continuous engagement did not confer any right on the petitioners to be in contin ued employment even when no research project was in hand
Disposing of the petitions this Court HELD The All India Institute of Medical Sciences set up by 105 statute is intended to carry on research in a continuous way to improve the level of medical knowledge
The Institute is entrusted from time to time with research projects by the World Health Organisation the Indian Council of Medical Research and other government and semigovernment bodies
Therefore a scheme should be evolved by the Institute in coordination with the Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research so that a team of researchers is built up to meet the general requirements of research
Certain projects would quite possibly require specialised hands and on such occasions a special team could be set up on casual basis by drawing the competent hands from different institu tions for a period but to keep up the tempo of research if a team of researchers is built up it would be convenient for the Institute for purposes of discipline and control as also for efficiency
108B C The Health Ministry must also sponsor continuous re search projects in the field of medicine and health and for such purpose several projects should be listed out from time to time and entrusted to the respondent Institute as also a similar Institute at Chandigarh and to Institutes as and when set up elsewhere
This would assist in updating rele vant medial information and knowledge apart from building up a scientific tone and temper for general circulation
108D E The Institute should initiate seriously action in this regard without delay and the Ministry of Health and Indian Council of Medical Research should collaborate with the Institute
108E Since the respondent Institute has immediately no scope to employ the petitioners excepting the one already re tained the remaining three petitioners should be provided employment either as Researchers or in any suitable alterna tive employment until their inclusion in a team of research ers is considered
The Indian Council of Medical Research should take appropriate steps to offer adequate employment to the three petitioners within two months hence
If neces sary the Ministry of Health should cooperate and place adequate funds at the disposal of the Indian Council of Medical Research
108F H