Case: Union Of India And Others Vs. S.L. Dutta And Others

not powerless. The Union of India having framed a policy relieved itself of the charge of acting capriciously or arbitrarily or in response to any ulterior considerations so long as it pursued a consistent policy." * 16. Mr. Datar, learned counsel for respondent 1 did not dispute that, normally, it was not for the court to consider the wisdom or appropriateness of a particular policy, particularly in cases where expert knowledge was required in the formulation of the policy and considering the appropriateness of the policy. It was, however, submitted by him that once a policy was settled the government was bound to follow that policy and that, if the policy had to be charged, this could be done only on a proper consideration of the relevant material and could not be resorted to for ulterior purposes or mala fide nor could the policy be changed arbitrarily. He placed reliance on the judgment of this Court in case of A. S. Sangwan 1980 Supp(SCC) 559, 561 : 1981 SCC(L&S) 378), discussed earlier. What is, however, significant is that in that very judgment this Court held (See para 4 of the aforesaid report) that a policy once formulated is not good for ever; it is perfectly within the competence of the Union of Indian to change it, rechange it, adjust it and readjust it according to the compulsions of circumstances and the imperatives of national considerations. That judgment, therefore, is of no avail to the appellant17. It was urged by Mr. Datar that, in the present case, by the change of policy the chances of an Air Vice-Marshal from the Navigation Stream of the Air Force to get promoted to the post of an Air Marshal were severely curtailed as the number of posts available to them for promotion was reduced to two apart from the two rotational post. It was urged by him that this could, in law, be regarded as a change in the conditions of service of the officers in the Navigation Stream in the Air Force. We are not able to accept this contention. In our opinion, what was affected by the change of policy were merely the chances of promotion of the Air Vice-Marshals in the Navigation Stream. As far as the posts of Air Marshals open to the Air Vice-Marshals in the said stream were concerned, their right or eligibility to be considered for promotion still remained and hence, there was no change in their conditions of service 18. It was next submitted by learned counsel that no minutes of what transpired at the meeting of the Air Marshals which approved the change of policy, were produced before the court and hence, the court was not in a position to decide whether the charge of policy was justified. He contended that it was significant that one Air Marshal from the Navigation Branch had opposed the change in the policy. It was also pointed out by him that, at one stage, the Government of India was not willing to adopt the change of policy but had changed its mind later on and the reasons for this change were not on record. It was submitted by him that these circumstances showed that the charge of policy was arbitrary. It was urged by him that the impugned judgment of the High Court was correct, as it was based on these consideration. He, however, made it clear that he was not pressing any allegation of mala fide which might be contained in the petition. In our opinion, the High Court was in error in making the impugned order. As has been laid down more than once by this Court, the court should rarely interfere where the question of validity of a particular policy is in question and all the more so where considerable material in the fixing of policy are of a highly technical or scientific nature. A consideration of a policy followed in the Indian Air Force regarding the promotional chances of officers in the Navigation Stream of the Flying Branch in the Air Force qua the other branches would necessarily involve scrutiny of the desirability of such a charge which would require considerable knowledge of modern aircraft, scientific and technical equipment available in such aircraft to guide in navigating the same, tactics to be followed by the Indian Air Force and so on. These are matters regarding which judges and the lawyers of courts can hardly be expected to have much knowledge by reasons of their training and experience. In the present case there is no question of arbitrary departure from the policy duly adopted because before the decision not to promote respondent 1 was taken, the policy had already been changed. The question is, therefore, whether this change can be said to be arbitrary or mala fide. As we have already pointed out, we are not in a position to hold that this change of policy was not warranted by the circumstances prevailing. As the matter was considered at some length by as many as 12 Air Marshals and the Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force, it is not possible to say that the question of change of policy was not duly considered. Mere non-availability of the minutes setting out the discussion, is of no relevance. In fact, it would perhaps be detrimental to the interest of the country if these matters were not kept confidential. We cannot assume that what was discussed at this meeting was not relevant to the decision regarding the change of policy. It may be that at one time the Ministry of Defence was not agreeable to accept the proposal for this change of policy but on further consideration accepted it. However, this could well show that before accepting the change of policy the Ministry of Defence and the experts attached to it gave full consideration to the requirements of the change. We cannot on the basis of this circumstance alone hold that the change of policy was arbitrary

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]In our opinion, we are not called upon to go into the consideration of the question whether the importance of the Navigation Branch in the Air Force has really been reduced as contended by the appellants because such consideration would involve several technical aspects which we are not competent to deal with and much of the material required to be considered might be of a sensitive and secret nature which it would not be proper to ask the Union of India or the Ministry of Defence to disclose, as such disclosure might adversely affect the safety and security of the country. It appears that the change of policy and reasons for the same were discussed at a meeting of the Air Marshals and the Chief of Air Staff who hold the rank of Air Chief Marshal. The minutes of the meeting are not available in court and we do not wish to call for them because some of the matters discussed in the meeting might be of a confidential or sensitive nature, as we have pointed out. Moreover, several of the matters discussed might be too technical for us to appreciatee are not able to accept this contention. In our opinion, what was affected by the change of policy were merely the chances of promotion of the Air Vice-Marshals in the Navigation Stream. As far as the posts of Air Marshals open to the Air Vice-Marshals in the said stream were concerned, their right or eligibility to be considered for promotion still remained and hence, there was no change in their conditions ofthe present case there is no question of arbitrary departure from the policy duly adopted because before the decision not to promote respondent 1 was taken, the policy had already been changed. The question is, therefore, whether this change can be said to be arbitrary or mala fide. As we have already pointed out, we are not in a position to hold that this change of policy was not warranted by the circumstances prevailing. As the matter was considered at some length by as many as 12 Air Marshals and the Chief of Air Staff of Indian Air Force, it is not possible to say that the question of change of policy was not duly considered. Mere non-availability of the minutes setting out the discussion, is of no relevance. In fact, it would perhaps be detrimental to the interest of the country if these matters were not kept confidential. We cannot assume that what was discussed at this meeting was not relevant to the decision regarding the change of policy. It may be that at one time the Ministry of Defence was not agreeable to accept the proposal for this change of policy but on further consideration accepted it. However, this could well show that before accepting the change of policy the Ministry of Defence and the experts attached to it gave full consideration to the requirements of the change. We cannot on the basis of this circumstance alone hold that the change of policy was arbitrary