SERVICES UNDER THE UNION AND THE STATE CHAPTER 1 – SERVICES

Bare Act, Constitution of India
March 25, 2024

  1. THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
  2. PART XIV
  3. SERVICES UNDER THE UNION AND THE STATES
  4. CHAPTER I.— SERVICES

  1. 308.Interpretation.—In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires,
    the expression “State” 1[does not include the State of Jammu and Kashmir].
  2. 309.Recruitment and conditions of service of persons serving the
    Union or a State.
    —Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Acts of the
    appropriate Legislature may regulate the recruitment, and conditions of service
    of persons appointed, to public services and posts in connection with the affairs
    of the Union or of any State:
    Provided that it shall be competent for the President or such person as he
    may direct in the case of services and posts in connection with the affairs of the
    Union, and for the Governor 2*** of a State or such person as he may direct in
    the case of services and posts in connection with the affairs of the State, to
    make rules regulating the recruitment, and the conditions of service of persons
    appointed, to such services and posts until provision in that behalf is made by
    or under an Act of the appropriate Legislature under this article, and any rules
    so made shall have effect subject to the provisions of any such Act.
  3. 310.Tenure of office of persons serving the Union or a State.
  4. (1) Except as expressly provided by this Constitution, every person who is a
    member of a defence service or of a civil service of the Union or of an all-
    India service or holds any post connected with defence or any civil post under
    the Union holds office during the pleasure of the President, and every person
    who is a member of a civil service of a State or holds any civil post under a
    State holds office during the pleasure of the Governor of the State.
  5. (2) Notwithstanding that a person holding a civil post under the Union or a State
  6. holds office during the pleasure of the President or, as the case may be, of the
  7. Governor of the State, any contract under which a person, not being
    a member of a defence service or of an all-India service or of a civil service of
    the Union or a State, is appointed under this Constitution to hold such a post
    may, if the President or the Governor, as the case may be, deems it
  1. necessary in order to secure the services of a person having special
  2. qualifications, provide for the payment to him of compensation, if before the
  3. expiration of an agreed period that post is abolished or he is, for reasons not
  4. connected with any misconduct on his part, required to vacate that post.
  5. 311.Dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in
    civil capacities under the Union or a State.
    —(1) No person who is a member
    of a civil service of the Union or an all-India service or a civil service of a
    State or holds a civil post under the Union or a State shall be dismissed or
    removed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was appointed.
    (2) No such person as aforesaid shall be dismissed or removed or
    reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the
    charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in
    respect of those charges.
    Provided that where it is proposed after such inquiry, to impose upon
    him any such penalty, such penalty may be imposed on the basis of the
    evidence adduced during such inquiry and it shall not be necessary to give such
    person any opportunity of making representation on the penalty proposed:
    Provided further that this clause shall not apply
    (a) where a person is dismissed or removed or reduced in rank on
    the ground of conduct which has led to his conviction on a criminal
    charge; or
    (b) where the authority empowered to dismiss or remove a person
    or to reduce him in rank is satisfied that for some reason, to be recorded
    by that authority in writing, it is not reasonably practicable to hold such
    inquiry; or
    (c) where the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is
    satisfied that in the interest of the security of the State it is not expedient
    to hold such inquiry.
    (3) If, in respect of any such person as aforesaid, a question arises
    whether it is reasonably practicable to hold such inquiry as is referred to in
    clause (2), the decision thereon of the authority empowered to dismiss or
    remove such person or to reduce him in rank shall be final.
  6. 312.All-India services.—(1) Notwithstanding anything in 1[Chapter VI
    of Part VI or Part XI], if the Council of States has declared by resolution
    supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it
    is necessary or expedient in the national interest so to do, Parliament may by
    law provide for the creation of one or more all India services 2[(including an
    all-India judicial service)] common to the Union and the States, and, subject to
    the other provisions of this Chapter, regulate the recruitment, and the
    conditions of service of persons appointed, to any such service.
    (2) The services known at the commencement of this Constitution as the
    Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service shall be deemed to
    be services created by Parliament under this article.
    2[(3) The all-India judicial service referred to in clause (1) shall not
    include any post inferior to that of a district judge as defined in article 236.
    (4) The law providing for the creation of the all-India judicial service
    aforesaid may contain such provisions for the amendment of Chapter VI of
    Part VI as may be necessary for giving effect to the provisions of that law and
    no such law shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the
    purposes of article 368.]
    312A. Power of Parliament to vary or revoke conditions of service
    of officers of certain services.
    —(1) Parliament may by law—
    (a) vary or revoke, whether prospectively or retrospectively, the
    conditions of services as respects remuneration, leave and pension and
    the rights as respects disciplinary matters of persons who, having been
    appointed by the Secretary of State or Secretary of State in Council to a
    civil service of the Crown in India before the commencement of this
    Constitution, continue on and after the commencement of the
    Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Act, 1972, to serve under the
    Government of India or of a State in any service or post;
  7. (b) vary or revoke, whether prospectively or retrospectively, the
  8. conditions of service as respects pension of persons who, having been
  9. appointed by the Secretary of State or Secretary of State in Council to a
  10. civil service of the Crown in India before the commencement of this
  11. Constitution, retired or otherwise ceased to be in service at any time
  12. before the commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-eighth
  13. Amendment) Act, 1972:
  14. Provided that in the case of any such person who is holding or has held
  15. the office of the Chief Justice or other Judge of the Supreme Court or a High
  16. Court, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, the Chairman or other
  17. member of the Union or a State Public Service Commission or the Chief
  18. Election Commissioner, nothing in sub-clause (a) or sub-clause (b) shall be
  19. construed as empowering Parliament to vary or revoke, after his appointment
  20. to such post, the conditions of his service to his disadvantage except in so far as
  21. such conditions of service are applicable to him by reason of his being a
  22. person appointed by the Secretary of State or Secretary of State in Council to a
  23. civil service of the Crown in India.
  24. (2) Except to the extent provided for by Parliament by law under this
  25. article, nothing in this article shall affect the power of any Legislature or other
  26. authority under any other provision of this Constitution to regulate the
  27. conditions of service of persons referred to in clause (1).
  28. (3) Neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall have jurisdiction in—
  29. (a) any dispute arising out of any provision of, or any
  30. endorsement on, any covenant, agreement or other similar instrument
  31. which was entered into or executed by any person referred to in clause
  32. (1), or arising out of any letter issued to such person, in relation to his
  33. appointment to any civil service of the Crown in India or his continuance
  34. in service under the Government of the Dominion of India or a Province
  35. thereof;
  36. (b) any dispute in respect of any right, liability or obligation
  37. under article 314 as originally enacted.
  38. (4) The provisions of this article shall have effect notwithstanding
  39. anything in article 314 as originally enacted or in any other provision of this
  40. Constitution.
  41. 313.Transitional provisions.—Until other provision is made in this
    behalf under this Constitution, all the laws in force immediately before the
    commencement of this Constitution and applicable to any public service or any
    post which continues to exist after the commencement of this Constitution, as
    an all-India service or as service or post under the Union or a State shall
    continue in force so far as consistent with the provisions of this Constitution.
  42. 314.[Provision for protection of existing officers of certain services.].—
    Omitted by the Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Act, 1972, s. 3
    (w.e.f. 29-8-1972).