Case: D. Nagaraja Etc Vs. State of Karnataka and Others

The circumstances leading to these appeals are: The appellants held the posts of Shambogues on hereditary basis under the Mysore Village Offices Act, 1908. In writ petition No. 133 of 1959 entitled Gazula Daseratha Rama Rao v. State of A.P. &Ors. ([1961] 2 S.C.R. 931=A.I.R. 1961 S C. 564.) decided on December 6, 1960, this Court held that a law which recognised the custom by which a preferential right to, an office vested in the members of a particular family was not consistent with the fundamental right guaranteed by Article 16 of the Constitution; that a custom which is recognised by law with regard to a hereditary office must yield to a fundament al right and section 6(1) of the Madras Hereditary Village Offices Act/II of 1895 in so far as it made discrimination on the ground of descent only was violative of the fundamental right under Article 16(2) of the Constitution and was void.. With a view to giving effect to tile principle settled by this decision, the Legislature of the. then State of Mysore comprising the territories the erstwhile States of Mysore and Coorg and certain parts of the erstwhile Stales of Bombay, Hyderabad and Madras enacted the Mysore Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961 (Act XIV of 1961) (hereinafter referred to as the Abolition Act) abolishing all the hereditary village offices including the office of Shambogue or village Accountant created under the Mysore Village Offices Act, 1908. Pursuant to sub-section (3) of section 1 which authorised the State Government to fix a date for the commencement of the Act, the Government of Mysore issued a notification on January 9, 1963 notifying that the Abolition Act would come into force with effect from February 1, 1963.Shortly after the according of the assent to the Abolition Act by the President on July 8, 1961, the Governor of Mysore flamed rules called the Mysore General Service (Revenue Subordinate Branch) Village Accountants (Cadre and Recruitment) Rules, 1961 in exercise of the powers vested in him under the proviso to Article 309 of the Con- stitution an d other powers enabling him in that behalf. These Rules, as evident from their title, were designed to regulate the recruitment, pay and other conditions of service of Village Accountants. Rule 10 of the 1961 Rules which was in the nature of a non obstante provision provided for the initial recruitment to the posts of Village Accountants to be made from amongst persons holding the posts of village officers on the date of commencement of those Rules provided that such persons had passed the S.S.L.C. examination or an equivalent examination and their age did not exceed 40 years on the said date. By a proviso which was introduced in the year, 1963, i t was provided that in the event of persons satisfying the qualifications mentioned in Rule 7 not being available even after the vacancies are twice advertised, the recruitment should be made from amongst pe rsons holding the posts of village officers who were not more than 50 years of age on the date of commencement of the said Rules and who had passed the Lower Secondary orr Final or equivalenty a notification issued on January 6, 1963, the Government of Mysore directed the Deputy Commissioners to appoint persons recruited under the 1961 Rules as village accountants and relieve the then holders of their offices. On the issue of the aforesaid notification dated January 9, 1963, a number of writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution were filed in the High Court challenging the legality and constitutional validity of the Abolition Act on the ground that it was a piece of colourable legislation. During the pendency of the writ petitions, an ad-interim order staying the operation of the aforesaid Notification dated January 9, 1963 was issued by the High Court. As a consequence of the stay order, the appellants and a number of other persons who were holding tile posts of Shambogues under the Mysore Village Offices Act, 1908 had to be continued by the State Government in the posts held by them. The writ petitions were eventually dismissed by the High Court by its judgment dated December 9, 1963 which was confirmed by this Court vide its judgment dated January 21, 1966 rendered in B.R. Shankaranarayana &Ors. v. State of Mysore(A.I.R. 1966 S.C. 1571.). Thus the constitutional validity of the Abolition Act was finally upheld by the Court. During the pendency of the appeals against the judgment of the High Court dated December 9, 1963, the State Legislature enactedthe Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) which came into force on April 1,to the 1970 Rules, applications were invited by the Recruitment Committee in the year, 1972 to fill up the posts of Village Accountants in the District of Hassan. After sorting out the applications received in response to the: advertisement, the Committee interviewed the applicants who. were eligible for appointment and prepared a list of the selected candidates for appointment as Village Accountants. This list was quashed by the High Court by its judgment dated November 19, 1972 rendered in writ petition No. 1871 of 11972 entitled Komari Gowda v. State of Mysore &Ors. and the Committee was directed. to select the candidates afresh in accordance with law. Consequently the Committee again interviewed the eligible candidates and prepared a fresh list of the selected candidates which was published in the Karnataka Gazette on May 30, 1974. Thereafter, the Deputy Commissioner,  Hassan issued orders of appointment of the candidates who were selected by the Recruitment Committee. Some of the candidates thus selected were posted as Village Accountants under section 16(2) of the Act to the villages in which the appellants were functioning. As the. appellants had to give up their posts in consequence. of the aforesaid fresh appointments under section 16(2) of the Act, they filed the aforesaid writ petitions impugning (i) the validity of rules 4 and 5 of the 1970 Rules on the ground that they were violativ e of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, (ii) the selection and appointment of respondents 3 to 191 as Village Accountants and praying that a writ of mandamus be issued directing respondents 1 and 2 to continue them as Village Accountants under section 16(2) of the Act. The writ petitions having been dismissed by the High Court as stated above., the appellants have come up in appeal to this Court.

Court's reasoning:
It is well settled that though Article 226 of the Constitution in terms does not describe the classes of persons entitled to apply thereunder, the existence of the right is implicit for the exercise of the extraordinary jurisdiction by the High Court under the said Article. It is also well established that a person who is not aggrieved by the discrimination complained of cannot maintain a writ petition. The constitutional validity of the Abolition Act abolishing all hereditary village offices including the office of the Shambogue or Village Accountant having been upheld by this Court in B.R. Shankanarayana &Ors. v. State of Mysore (supra), and the first preference in the matter of appointment of Village Accountants having been given by Rule 4 of the 1970 Rules to all persons. belonging to the category and class of the appellants who had served as Village Officers, the appellants who did not apply for appointment as Village Accountants in response to the aforesaid notification issued by the Recruitment Committee and did not possess the prescribed qualification, could not complain of the unconstitutionality of the 1970 Rules or of the infringement of, Articles 4 an d 16 of the Constitution which merely forbid improper or invidious distinctions by conferring rights or privileges upon a class of persons arbitrarily selected from out of a larger group who. are similarly circumstanced but do not exclude the laying down of selective tests nor prevent the Government from laying general educational qualifications for the post in question. The High Court was, therefore, right in holding that the appellants have no right to maintain the aforesaid writ petitions.