Allahabad HC quashes bank clerk’s 1983 termination under void regulation

The Allahabad High Court has quashed the 1983 termination of a Gramin Bank clerk, ruling that the regulation under which he was sacked was void from inception because it was declared unconstitutional by the court in 1994. The division bench of Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Indrajeet Shukla held that a post-Constitution law or regulation declared to violate Part III of the Constitution is destroyed at birth and cannot be revived, even if the relevant fundamental right is later amended or reinterpreted.

The appellant was appointed as a clerk with the Gorakhpur Kshetriya Gramin Bank in 1981 on one year's probation, which was later extended by six months. The bank terminated him on 11 March 1983 under Regulation 10 of its Staff Service Regulations, 1980, claiming unsatisfactory service. The employee challenged the termination in civil court in 1983, eventually filing a writ petition that was dismissed in 2004, leading to the present appeal.

The High Court also held that since the maximum probation period ended on 19 January 1983 and no discharge was ordered, the employee was deemed confirmed in service and a permanent employee when the termination order was passed on 11 March 1983. The court rejected the bank's argument that the earlier 1994 ruling declaring the regulation unconstitutional had passed sub silentio on the relevant point, noting that the declaration operates in rem.