CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERSversusRAM GOPAL

514                      [2020]REPORTS
               SUPREME COURT    3 S.C.R. 514                 [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A           CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER
                  CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS
                                        v.
                                 RAM GOPAL
B                      (Civil Appeal No. 852 of 2020 etc.)
                              JANUARY 30, 2020
        [S. A. BOBDE, CJI, B. R. GAVAI AND SURYA KANT, JJ.]
            Service Law:
C            Termination of service – On account of finding irregularities
      in the selection process of the employees including that of the
      respondent – One of the terminated candidates was granted relief
      of continuation of his service – Thereafter respondent filed writ
      petition challenging termination of his service – Writ Petition was
D     allowed by Single Judge of High Court holding that the respondent’s
      case was squarely covered by the case of the other employee who
      was granted relief by the Court – Special appeal by the employer
      was dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court – Appeal to
      Supreme Court – Held: Termination order cannot be said to be non-
      reasoned – Termination order of the respondent could not have
E     been set aside drawing parity from the case of another employee,
      as the case of another employee was decided on equitable grounds
      – Equity acts in personam and not in rem – Equity.
            Limitation:
F            Limitation in filing writ petitions – Held: Limitation does not
      strictly apply to proceedings u/Ars. 32 or 226 of the Constitution –
      However, such rights cannot be enforced after an unreasonable
      lapse of time – Writ Courts ought to be reluctant in exercising their
      discretionary jurisdiction to protect those who have slept over wrongs
      and allowed illegalities to foster – However, such principles do not
G
      apply to the judgments delivered in-rem – In the present case, the
      judgment granting relief to the other employee in setting aside his
      termination order, does not have the ingredient of a judgment in-
      rem, hence cannot come to respondent’s rescue.

H
                                       514
      CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER                             515
       CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS v. RAM GOPAL

      Allowing the appeals, the Court                                    A
      HELD: 1. The impugned order of the High Court is legally
untenable. The Division Bench’s finding that “no reason has been
assigned in the order of cancellation of appointment of the
respondent”, is vividly erroneous. Termination of another
candidate was held legal only on account of pending litigation and       B
interim directions of courts that he had spent 17 years in
employment of UPPCL-employer. Paying heed to these equitable
considerations, and not as a matter of any legal right, the High
Court had urged the employer to sympathetically consider the
case of that employee for retention in employment. This
conclusion of the High Court has undoubtedly attained finality.          C
Whereas that employee had remained in service for over
seventeen years (except a brief period between August to
November in 1978) and had fought his case tooth and nail, the
respondent has not been in the employment of UPPCL since 1978.
The fact-situation in that case was unique and altogether different      D
from that of the respondent and there arises no reason to seek
or grant parity. Even otherwise, it is a settled canon of common
law that equity acts in personam and not in rem. Hence, there
could be no extension of parity between them. [Paras 10, 11, 12
and 13][519-D-F; 520-A-E]
                                                                         E
      2.1 Services of the respondent were terminated within
months of his appointment, in 1978. Statedly, the respondent made
a representation and served UPPCL with a legal notice in 1982,
however such feeble effort does little to fill the gap between when
the cause of action arose and he chose to seek its redressal (in
1990). The prolonged delay of many years ought not to have been          F
overlooked or condoned. [Para 14][520-F-G]
      2.2 Whilst it is true that limitation does not strictly apply to
proceedings under Articles 32 or 226 of the Constitution of India,
nevertheless, such rights cannot be enforced after an
unreasonable lapse of time. Consideration of unexplained delays          G
and inordinate laches would always be relevant in writ actions,
and writ courts naturally ought to be reluctant in exercising their
discretionary jurisdiction to protect those who have slept over
wrongs and allowed illegalities to fester. Fence-sitters cannot be
                                                                         H
516            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                      [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A     allowed to barge into courts and cry for their rights at their
      convenience, and vigilant citizens ought not to be treated alike
      with mere opportunists. On multiple occasions, it has been
      restated that there are implicit limitations of time within which
      writ remedies can be enforced. These principles may not,
      however, apply to judgments which are delivered in-rem. The
B
      State and its instrumentalities are expected in such category of
      cases to themselves extend the benefit of a judicial
      pronouncement to all similarly placed employees without forcing
      each person to individually knock the doors of courts. The order
      passed by the High Court for retention of another employee in
C     service, does not possess any ingredient of a Judgment in-rem.
      The above cited exception, therefore, does not come to the
      respondent’s rescue. It has neither been pleaded nor is it apparent
      from the material on record that the respondent was unable to
      approach the court-of-law in time, on account of any social or
      financial disability. Had such been the case, he ought to have
D
      availed free legal aid and should have ventilated his grievances
      in a timely manner. [Paras 16, 18 and 19][521-E-G; 522-E; 523-
      G-H; 524-A]
            State of Uttar Pradesh v. Arvind Kumar Srivastava
            (2015) 1 SCC 347 : [2014] 12 SCR 193 – relied on.
E
            P. S. Sadasivaswamy v. State of Tamil Nadu (1975) 1
            SCC 152 : [1975] 2 SCR 356; SS Balu v. State of Kerala
            (2009) 2 SCC 479 : [2009] 1 SCR 196; Vijay Kumar
            Kaul v. Union of India (2012) 7 SCC 610 : [2012] 6
            SCR 128 – referred to.
F
                             Case Law Reference
      [1975] 2 SCR 356               referred to             Para 15
      [2009] 1 SCR 196               referred to             Para 16
      [2012] 6 SCR 128               referred to             Para 17
G     [2014] 12 SCR 193              relied on.              Para 18
           CIVIL/CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal
      No.852 of 2020
             From the Judgment and Order dated 29.04.2016 of the High Court
      of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow in Special Appeal
H     No. 643 of 2007.
      CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER                               517
       CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS v. RAM GOPAL

       With                                                                A
       Crl. A. No. 204/2020.
       Pradeep Misra, Adv. for the Appellants.
       Farrukh Rasheed and Asim Chandra, Advs. for the Respondent.
                              JUDGMENT
                                                                           B
       The following Judgment of the Court was delivered :
       1. Leave granted.
       2. Uttar Pradesh Power Corp. Ltd. (hereinafter, “UPPCL”) has
preferred this appeal, assailing an order dated 29.04.2016 passed by a
Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (Lucknow
                                                                           C
Bench) which in turn upheld the order dated 05.04.2016 passed by a
learned Single Judge whereby Ram Gopal (Respondent)’s writ petition
for setting aside his termination order and directing his consequent re-
instatement, was allowed.
       FACTUAL BACKGROUND
       3. UPPCL conducted selections for certain Class IV positions of     D
Junior Meter Tester & Repairer, Mate and Meter Coolie/Chaukidar and
declared results on 31.08.1978 through an Office Memorandum. The
Respondent emerged as one of the successful candidates for being
appointed as Meter Cooli/Chaukidar. Owing to subsequent discovery of
certain irregularities in the selection process, UPPCL cancelled these     E
selections on 03.11.1978 and consequently terminated services of all
appointees on 07.11.1978.
         4. Shyam Behari Lal, another successful candidate whose
services too had been terminated, promptly approached the jurisdictional
High Court which allowed his writ petition on 26.10.1989 observing that
                                                                           F
no reasons had been assigned for the termination. UPPCL unsuccessfully
filed an intra-court appeal, and thereafter approached this Court by way
of Civil Appeal No. 7123 of 1993 (U.P. State Electricity Board and
Others v. Shyam Behari Lal). The said appeal was allowed vide order
dated 22.11.1993 with an observation that the reason for termination
was ‘writ large’ on the order itself, namely, “cancellation of result of   G
selection of operating staff”, and the matter was accordingly remitted
to the High Court for disposal on merits.
      5. Thereafter, a Division Bench of the High Court considered
Shyam Behari Lal’s case and held that though the writ petition was
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518            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A     liable to be dismissed on merits, however, considering the peculiar
      circumstances wherein Shyam Behari Lal had already served the UPPCL
      for 17 years, rendering him jobless might be too harsh a consequence.
      The relevant operative part of the order dated 30.05.1997 reads as
      follows:
B           “In view of what has been discussed above, is true that the
            petitioner is liable to be dismissed, but in the peculiar
            circumstances of the case and in view of the fact that the
            petitioners are continuing in service for last seventeen years,
            it would be too harsh to render him jobless at this stage. We
            would, therefore, only provide that the opposite parties may
C           consider his continuance in service and take a suitable
            decision as may be thought appropriate in the facts and
            circumstances of the case expeditiously.”
                                                           (emphasis supplied)
D             6. After the initial round of litigation in which Shyam Behari Lal
      had obtained relief from the High Court in 1989, the present Respondent
      also filed WP No. 7897 of 1990 in July, 1990, impugning the order dated
      07.11.1978 terminating his services. A learned Single Judge of the High
      Court of Judicature at Allahabad summarily allowed the Respondent’s
      writ petition on 05.04.2007 on the premise that the matter was “squarely
E     covered” by the decision of the High Court dated 26.10.1989 in Shyam
      Behari Lal’s case.
            7. The aggrieved UPPCL preferred Special Appeal No. 643 of
      2007 which was dismissed by a Division Bench vide the impugned order
      dated 29.04.2016. Although the Court noted that the order of 1989 relied
F     upon by the learned Single Judge had been set-aside by this Court and
      during fresh consideration of the matter a co-ordinate Bench had held
      Shyam Behari Lal’s case being devoid of any merit; yet it laid emphasis
      on the equitable considerations which were pressed into aid in Shyam
      Behari Lal’s case for his resultant continuation in service. The Division
G     Bench, thus, dismissed UPPCL’s appeal and held as follows:
            “The case of the respondent is similarly situated as his
            appointment pertains to the same selection and no reason has
            been assigned in the order of cancellation of appointment of
            the respondent. Therefore, learned Single Judge has rightly
            extended the parity of the aforesaid judgment and order to
H
            the respondent while allowing the Writ Petition.”
       CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER                                   519
        CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS v. RAM GOPAL

      CONTENTIONS OF PARTIES                                                    A
       8. Vehemently refuting the Respondent’s claim of illegal
termination, UPPCL has preferred this Civil Appeal both against the
Division Bench’s order dated 29.04.2016, as well as the contempt
proceedings initiated before the High Court by the Respondent. UPPCL
has painstakingly urged that there is no correlation in law or any similarity   B
in facts between the case of Shyam Behari Lal and the present case of
Ram Gopal.
       9. On the other hand, counsel for the Respondent defends the
judgment of the Division Bench, maintaining that both Shyam Behari Lal
and Ram Gopal were recruited through the same office memorandum,                C
and their services were terminated through the same order. It was urged
that what holds true for one candidate must necessarily also hold true
for the other; and it would be iniquitous and unequal to give rise to a
situation where similarly placed persons end up in vastly different
situations.
                                                                                D
      ANALYSIS
      10. Having heard learned counsel for the parties at a considerable
length, we find that the impugned order of the High Court is legally
untenable and cannot be sustained for at least three glaring reasons.
     i) Erroneous conclusion of termination order being non-                    E
speaking
       11. First, the Division Bench’s finding that “no reason has been
assigned in the order of cancellation of appointment of the
respondent”, is vividly erroneous. This Court had earlier vide order
dated 22.11.1993 passed in Civil Appeal No. 7123 of 1993 overruled              F
the High Court’s finding of non-reasoned termination in Shyam Behari
Lal’s case and had held that the termination order was in fact a speaking
order, with the reason for termination being writ large and clearly given.
The High Court’s findings thus undoubtedly fall foul of the observations
made by this Court and the impugned order hence ought to be set-aside
                                                                                G
on this count alone.
     ii) Lack of similarity between Shyam Behari Lal and Ram
Gopal
       12. Second, Quite palpably, the High Court has erred in concluding
that the Respondent’s claim fell squarely within the four corners of its        H
520            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A     previous decision in Shyam Behari Lal’s case. The relied-upon judgment
      dated 30.05.1997 determined unequivocally that there was no merit in
      the writ petition and that Shyam Behari Lal’s claim was “liable to be
      dismissed”. It was only on account of pending litigation and interim
      directions of courts that Shyam Behari Lal had spent 17 years in
      employment of UPPCL. Paying heed to these equitable considerations,
B
      and not as a matter of any legal right, the High Court urged the employer
      to sympathetically consider his case for retention in employment. This
      conclusion of the High Court was not appealed by any party and has
      undoubtedly attained finality. Hence, it is clear in law that Shyam Behari
      Lal’s termination was legal, and that he had no right of continuation in
C     service, let alone reinstatement as sought in the present case. The only
      question which thus survives is whether the Respondent, Ram Gopal,
      could seek parity?
             13. At the outset, it is apparent that Shyam Behari Lal and Ram
      Gopal share little similarity. Whereas the former had remained in service
D     for over seventeen years (except a brief period between August to
      November in 1978) and had fought his case tooth and nail, the Respondent
      has not been in the employment of UPPCL since 1978. The fact-situation
      in Shyam Behari Lal’s case was unique and altogether different from
      that of Ram Gopal, and there arises no reason to seek or grant parity.
      Even otherwise, it is a settled canon of common law that equity acts in
E     personam and not in rem. Hence, there could be no extension of parity
      between the case of Shyam Behari Lal and Ram Gopal (Respondent).
            iii) Inordinate delay in filing writ petition
             14. Finally, the prolonged delay of many years ought not to have
F     been overlooked or condoned. Services of the Respondent were
      terminated within months of his appointment, in 1978. Statedly, the
      Respondent made a representation and served UPPCL with a legal notice
      in 1982, however such feeble effort does little to fill the gap between
      when the cause of action arose and he chose to seek its redressal(in
      1990).
G
             15. Seen from a different perspective also, it is clear that the
      Respondent has shown little concern to the settled legal tenets. Even a
      civil suit challenging termination of services, if filed by the Respondent,
      would have undoubtedly been barred by limitation in 1990. In a similar
      situation where the appellant belatedly challenged the promotion of his
H
         CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER                                521
          CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS v. RAM GOPAL

junior(s), this Court in P.S. Sadasivaswamy v. State of Tamil Nadu1,           A
held as follows:
         “2. … if the appellant was aggrieved by it he should have
         approached the Court even in the year 1957, after the two
         representations made by him had failed to produce any result.
         One cannot sleep over the matter and come to the Court                B
         questioning that relaxation in the year 1971. … In effect he
         wants to unscramble a scrambled egg. It is very difficult for
         the Government to consider whether any relaxation of the
         rules should have been made in favour of the appellant in
         the year 1957. The conditions that were prevalent in 1957,
         cannot be reproduced now. …It is not that there is any period         C
         of limitation for the Courts to exercise their powers under
         Article 226 nor is it that there can never be a case where the
         Courts cannot interfere in a matter after the passage of a
         certain length of time. But it would be a sound and wise
         exercise of discretion for the Courts to refuse to exercise their     D
         extraordinary powers under Article 226 in the case of persons
         who do not approach it expeditiously for relief and who stand
         by and allow things to happen and then approach the Court
         to put forward stale claims and try to unsettle settled
         matters…...”
                                                                               E
        16. Whilst it is true that limitation does not strictly apply to
proceedings under Articles 32 or 226 of the Constitution of India,
nevertheless, such rights cannot be enforced after an unreasonable lapse
of time. Consideration of unexplained delays and inordinate laches would
always be relevant in writ actions, and writ courts naturally ought to be
reluctant in exercising their discretionary jurisdiction to protect those      F
who have slept over wrongs and allowed illegalities to fester. Fence-
sitters cannot be allowed to barge into courts and cry for their rights at
their convenience, and vigilant citizens ought not to be treated alike with
mere opportunists. On multiple occasions, it has been restated that there
are implicit limitations of time within which writ remedies can be enforced.   G
In SS Balu v. State of Kerala2, this Court observed thus:
         “17. It is also well-settled principle of law that “delay defeats
         equity”. …It is now a trite law that where the writ petitioner
1
    (1975) 1 SCC 152.
2
    (2009) 2 SCC 479                                                           H
522               SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A              approaches the High Court after a long delay, reliefs prayed
               for may be denied to them on the ground of delay and laches
               irrespective of the fact that they are similarly situated to the
               other candidates who obtain the benefit of the judgment.”
                                                              (emphasis supplied)
B            17. Similarly, in Vijay Kumar Kaul v. Union of India3 this Court
      while considering the claim of candidates who, despite being higher in
      merit, exercised their right to parity much after those who were though
      lower in merit but were diligently agitating their rights, this Court observed
      that:
C              “27. …It becomes an obligation to take into consideration
               the balance of justice or injustice in entertaining the petition
               or declining it on the ground of delay and laches. It is a matter
               of great significance that at one point of time equity that
               existed in favour of one melts into total insignificance and
D              paves the path of extinction with the passage of time.”
            18. We may hasten to add that these principles may not, however,
      apply to judgments which are delivered in-rem. The State and its
      instrumentalities are expected In such category of cases to themselves
      extend the benefit of a judicial pronouncement to all similarly placed
E     employees without forcing each person to individually knock the doors
      of courts. This distinction between operation of delay and laches to
      judgments delivered in-rem and in personam, is lucidly captured in State
      of Uttar Pradesh v. Arvind Kumar Srivastava 4, laying down that:
               “22.1. The normal rule is that when a particular set of
F              employees is given relief by the court, all other identically
               situated persons need to be treated alike by extending that
               benefit. Not doing so would amount to discrimination and
               would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
               This principle needs to be applied in service matters more
               emphatically as the service jurisprudence evolved by this
G              Court from time to time postulates that all similarly situated
               persons should be treated similarly. Therefore, the normal rule
               would be that merely because other similarly situated persons
               did not approach the Court earlier, they are not to be treated
               differently.
      3
H         (2012) 7 SCC 610
      4
          (2015) 1 SCC 347
      CHAIRMAN/MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.P. POWER                                 523
       CORPORATION LTD. & OTHERS v. RAM GOPAL

      22.2. However, this principle is subject to well-recognised            A
      exceptions in the form of laches and delays as well as
      acquiescence. Those persons who did not challenge the
      wrongful action in their cases and acquiesced into the same
      and woke up after long delay only because of the reason that
      their counterparts who had approached the court earlier in
                                                                             B
      time succeeded in their efforts, then such employees cannot
      claim that the benefit of the judgment rendered in the case of
      similarly situated persons be extended to them. They would
      be treated as fence-sitters and laches and delays, and/or the
      acquiescence, would be a valid ground to dismiss their claim.
      22.3. However, this exception may not apply in those cases             C
      where the judgment pronounced by the court was judgment
      in rem with intention to give benefit to all similarly situated
      persons, whether they approached the court or not. With such
      a pronouncement the obligation is cast upon the authorities
      to itself extend the benefit thereof to all similarly situated         D
      persons. Such a situation can occur when the subject-matter
      of the decision touches upon the policy matters, like scheme
      of regularisation and the like (see K.C. Sharma v. Union of
      India [K.C. Sharma v. Union of India, (1997) 6 SCC 721 :
      1998 SCC (L&S) 226] ). On the other hand, if the judgment
      of the court was in personam holding that benefit of the said          E
      judgment shall accrue to the parties before the court and
      such an intention is stated expressly in the judgment or it can
      be impliedly found out from the tenor and language of the
      judgment, those who want to get the benefit of the said
      judgment extended to them shall have to satisfy that their             F
      petition does not suffer from either laches and delays or
      acquiescence.”                             (Emphasis applied)
      19. The order passed by the High Court for retention of Shyam
Behari Lal in service, does not possess any ingredient of a Judgment in-
rem. The above cited exception, therefore, does not come to the              G
Respondent’s rescue. It is also pertinent to mention that neither has it
been pleaded nor is it apparent from the material on record that the
Respondent was unable to approach the court-of-law in time on account
of any social or financial disability. Had such been the case, he ought to
have availed free legal aid and should have ventilated his grievances in a
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524             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                          [2020] 3 S.C.R.


A     timely manner. Instead, he seems to be under the assumption that the
      termination order is illegal, that he consequently has a right to be
      reinstated, and that he can agitate the same at his own sweet-will. Neither
      of these three assumptions are true, as elaborated by us earlier.
             CONCLUSION
B            20. For the reasons aforementioned, the appeals are allowed. The
      impugned order delivered by the learned Single Judge on 05.04.2007 as
      well as the order dated 29.04.2016 of the Division Bench upholding it,
      are set aside. Respondent’s writ petition is consequently dismissed. As a
      sequel thereto, the High Court’s interim order dated 02.11.2016 in
C     Contempt No. 1271 of 2016, which is under challenge in SLP (Crl.) No.
      2014 of 2017, is also quashed and the contempt petition stands dismissed.
      No order as to costs.

      Kalpana K. Tripathy                                          Appeals allowed.

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