SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Union of India
Vs.
Sanjay Kumar Jain
C.A.No.5178 of 2004
(Arijit Pasayat and C.K.Thakker JJ.)
11.08.2004
JUDGMENT
Arijit Pasayat, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. The Union of India calls in question legality of the judgment rendered by a
Division Bench of the Delhi High Court dismissing the Writ Petition filed by it
while affirming the decision rendered by Central Administrative Tribunal,
Principal Bench, New Delhi (in short 'CAT').
3. Factual position in a nutshell is as follows:
4. The respondent while working in Group-C post of the Railways applied for
promotion to Group-B post. He qualified in the written test and was directed to
undergo medical examination as per para 531(b) of the Indian Railway
Establishment Manual (in short the 'Establishment Manual'). In terms of the
Railway Board's Circular dated 31.10.1991 passing of the medical test is a
requirement before the candidate is called for viva voce test. The respondent
was found to be medically unfit as he was visually handicapped. His case is one
of external squint with advanced petriritis pigments on both the eyes. This is
a disease which affects the eye- sight progressively. He was considered unfit
as he may become visually handicapped in future. The respondent was therefore
not called for viva voce test. He filed O.A.No.439/2001 before the CAT
challenging the order dated 20.9.2000 whereby it was indicated that he was not
to be called for viva voce test as he had been declared medically unfit. The
CAT after hearing the parties came to hold that while considering the case of
the respondent (applicant before it) the provisions of The Persons with
Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation)
Act, 1995 (in short the 'Act') were not kept in view. CAT took note of the
fact that a new paragraph 189A was introduced in the Establishment Manual which
clearly laid down that there shall not be discrimination in the matter of
promotion merely on the ground of physical disability. The application was accordingly
allowed by the CAT.
5. The Union of India questioned correctness of CAT's order by filing a Writ
Petition which was dismissed by the impugned judgment. The High Court took note
of sub-Section (2) of Section 47 of the Act to hold that CAT's order is perfectly
in order.
6. In support of the appeal, it was contended by Mr. M.N. Krishnamani, learned
senior counsel that while referring to sub-Section (2) Section 47 of the Act
both the CAT and the High Court overlooked the proviso to sub Section (2) of
Section 47 which permits the appropriate Government to exclude by notification
any establishment from the provisions of the Section. According to him, looking
at the nature of the duties which employees of Group-B have to undertake, a
physically handicapped person, more particularly, one who is visually
handicapped will not be able to do justice to the work. The High Court and the
CAT were not justified in granting relief to the respondent after he had failed
in the medical test. It was urged that the proviso makes it clear that in
appropriate cases the protection provided by sub-Section (2) of Section 47 of
the Act can be denied and the case at hand is one of such cases.
7. The respondent who appeared in person submitted that the judgments of both
the CAT and the High Court do not suffer from any infirmity to warrant
interference.
8. Since the controversy revolves around Section 47 of the Act, it would be
appropriate to quote the provision which reads as follows:
"Section 47: Non-discrimination in Government employments-(1) No
establishment shall dispense with, or reduce in rank, an employee who acquires
a disability during his service:
Provided that, if an employee, after acquiring disability is not suitable for
the post he was holding, could be shifted to some other post with the same pay
scale and service benefits:
Provided further that if it is not possible to adjust the employee against any
post, he may be kept on a supernumerary post until a suitable post is available
or he attains the age of superannuation, whichever is earlier.
(2) No promotion shall be denied to a person merely on the ground of his
disability:
Provided that the appropriate Government may, having regard to the type of work
carried on in any establishment, by notification and subject to such
conditions, if any, as may be specified in such notification, exempt any
establishment from the provisions of this section."
9. The Act has been enacted, as the Preamble of the Act indicates, to give
effect to the Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of the People
with Disabilities in the Asian and Pacific Region. In a meeting to launch the
Asian and Pacific Decade of the Disabled Persons 1993-2002 convened by the
Economic and Social Commission for Asian and Pacific Region, which was held at
Beijing on 1st to 5th December, 1992, a proclamation was adopted on the Full
Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asia and the
Pacific Region. Our country is a signatory to the said proclamation. The
proclamation was on the following lines:
"To give full effect to the proclamation it was felt necessary to enact a
legislation to provide for the following matters:
(i) To spell out the responsibility of the State towards the prevention of
disabilities, protection of rights, provision of medical care, education,
training, employment and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities;
(ii) To create barrier free environment for persons with disabilities;
(iii) To remove any discrimination against persons with disabilities in the
sharing of development benefits, vis-a-vis non-disabled persons;
(iv) To counteract any situation of the abuse and the exploitation of persons
with disabilities;
(v) To lay down a strategy for comprehensive development of programmes and
services and equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities; and
(vi) To make special provision of the integration of persons with disabilities
into the social mainstream."
10. Sub-Section (1) of Section 47 in clear terms provides that there cannot be
any discrimination in government employments and no establishment shall
dispense with or reduce in rank an employee whatsoever during his service.
Sub-section (2) is relevant for our purpose. It, in crystal clear terms, provides
that no promotion shall be denied to a person merely on the ground of his
disability. Obviously, in the instant case, the respondent was not considered
for promotion on the ground of as he was considered to be visually handicapped.
Much stress was laid by Mr. Krishmani on the proviso to sub-Section (2) of
Section 47. The same is not in any way helpful to further the case of the
appellant. In fact it only permits the appropriate Government to specify by
notification any establishment which may be exempted from the provisions of
Section 47. It does not give unbridled power to exclude any establishment from
the purview of Section 47. the exclusion can be only done under certain
specified circumstances. They are:
“(i) Issuance of a notification.
(ii) Prescription of requisite conditions in the notification.”
11. The notification can be issued when the appropriate Government, having regard to the type of work carried on in any establishment thinks it appropriate to exempt such establishment from the provisions of Section 47. The proviso to sub-Section (2) thereof does not operate in the absence of the notification.
12. The normal function of a proviso is to except something out of the
enactment or to qualify something enacted therein which but for the proviso
would be within the purview of the enactment. As was stated in Mullins v.
Treasurer of Survey1 (referred to in Shah Bhojraj Kuverji Oil
Mills and Ginning Factory v. Subhash Chandra Yograj Sinha ) and Calcutta
Tramways Co. Ltd. v. Corporation of Calcutta ); when one finds a proviso
to a section the natural presumption is that, but for the proviso, the enacting
part of the section would have included the subject matter of the proviso. The
proper function of a proviso is to except and to deal with a case which would
otherwise fall within the general language of the main enactment and its effect
is confined to that case. It is a qualification of the preceding enactment
which is expressed in terms too general to be quite accurate. As a general
rule, a proviso is added to an enactment to qualify or create an exception to
what is in the enactment and ordinarily, a proviso is not interpreted as
stating a general rule. "If the language of the enacting part of the
statute does not contain the provisions which are said to occur in it you cannot
derive these provisions by implication from a proviso." Said Lord Watson
in West Derby Union v. Metropolitan Life Assurance Co.2.
Normally, a proviso does not travel beyond the provision to which it is a
proviso. It carves out an exception to the main provision to which it has been
enacted as a proviso and to no other. (See A.N. Sehgal and Ors. v. Raje Ram
Sheoram and Ors., Tribhovandas Haribhai Tamboli v. Gujarat Revenue Tribunal and
Ors. and Kerala State Housing Board and Ors. v. Ramapriya Hotels (P)Ltd. and
Ors.
"This word (proviso) hath divers operations. Sometime it worketh a
qualification or limitation; sometime a condition; and sometime a
covenant" * (Coke upon Littleton 18th Edition, 146)
"If in a deed an earlier clause is followed by a later clause which
destroys altogether the obligation created by the earlier clause, the later
clause is to be rejected as repugnant, and the earlier clause prevails....But
if the later clause does not destroy but only qualifies the earlier, then the
two are to be read together and effect is to be given to the intention of the
parties as disclosed by the deed as a whole" (Per Lord Wrenbury in Forbes
v. Git ). A statutory proviso "is something engrafted on a preceding
enactment" (R. v. Taunton, St James, 9 B. & C. 836).
"The ordinary and proper function of a proviso coming after a general
enactment is to limit that general enactment in certain instances"
(per Lord Esher in Re Barker, 25 Q.B.D. 285).
13. A proviso to a section cannot be used to import into the enacting part
something which is not there, but where the enacting part is susceptible to
several possible meanings it may be controlled by the proviso (See Jennings
v. Kelly3).
14. The above position was noted in Ali M.K. & Ors. v. State of Kerala and
Ors. ( ).
15. Though several documents were referred to contend that the intention of the
employer was to exclude certain establishments, a bare perusal thereof shows
that they have no relevance and do not in any way fulfill the requirements of
the proviso to Sub-section (2) of Section 47. It goes without saying that if a
notification in this regard is issued by the appropriate Government the same
shall be operative in respect of the establishment which is specifically
exempted. That is not the position so far as the present case is concerned.
Therefore, on the facts of the case, the order of the Tribunal as affirmed by
the High Court by the impugned judgment suffers from no infirmity to warrant
our interference.
16. The appeal fails and is accordingly dismissed with no order as to costs.
11880 (5) QBD 170
21897 AC 647) (HL)
31939 Indlaw HL 10