LI Network
Published on: December 07, 2023 at 11:32 IST
The Allahabad High Court clarified that the mere adoption of government service rules by autonomous bodies doesn’t extend the same rights to their employees as those enjoyed by government employees.
Relying on a Supreme Court judgment (State of Maharashtra and anr Vs. Bhagwan and Ors), Justice Abdul Moin emphasized that adopting government service rules doesn’t automatically categorize employees of autonomous bodies as government employees or place them within government service.
The case involved a teacher seeking inter-district transfer based on her spouse’s employment at Lucknow University. The government order specified a transfer benefit for teachers whose spouses were government servants. However, the clarification stipulated that only services governed by rules under Article 309 of the Constitution constituted government service.
The petitioner argued that her husband, employed under the “adopted” Uttar Pradesh Government Servants Dying-in-Harness Rules, 1974, deserved the transfer benefit. The university adopted state government rules for Group C posts.
The court rejected the argument, asserting that autonomous bodies’ employees adopting government rules don’t become government servants or enjoy government employees’ benefits.
Drawing on the State of Maharashtra case, the court held that employees of autonomous bodies can’t automatically claim the same service benefits as government employees.
The court emphasized that even if government rules are adopted, autonomous body employees don’t attain equivalent status to government employees. The writ petition was dismissed.
Case Title: Deepti Singh v. State Of U.P. Represented By Its Addl. Chief Secy. Basic Shiksha Lko And 6 Others
