Denied leave for working holidays? Kerala High Court slams state for ‘arbitrary’ move against its own officers

“It is declared that denial of compensatory leave to the gazetted officers of the high court..is illegal, arbitrary and violative of Article 229 of the Constitution of India,” the order read.

Article 229 of the Constitution provides that the chief justice of the court should appoint the officers and servants of a high court.

The high court noted that the state and authority concerned have also rejected the recommendation made by the chief justice of the high court concerning the exemption of gazetted officers to get compensatory leave.

The court noted that the objective of Article 229 of the Constitution is to secure the independence of the high court, which is essential for the working of the democratic form of government in this country.

The high court further noted that it is free from interference by the government and has absolute control over its staff, subject only to the limitations imposed by Article 229.

Justice Nagaresh directed the state and the authority concerned to reconsider the proposal of the high court establishment in strict conformity with Article 229 of the Constitution and in light of the recommendations made by the high court chief justice, within a period of three months.

Findings

• The recommendations of the chief justice of the high court should ordinarily be approved by the state, and any refusal should be accompanied by strong and adequate reasons.
• The state has rejected the proposal made by the chief justice, holding that they have comprehensively considered the issue and have decided to reject the request, but no reason was stated for rejection.
• The state is not justified in rejecting the request made by the chief justice, who is the head of the high court.
• The request made by the chief justice stemmed from a constitutional authority exercising absolute control under Article 229 over the conditions of service and functioning of the high court establishment.
• The recommendations of the chief justice in matters concerning internal administration and functioning of the high court cannot be disregarded by the state.
• The functional realities are materially different from those of other government departments in the high court.
• Administrative and judicial work continues even during major holidays such as Onam and Christmas.
• Even during holidays, vacation sittings are held, which require the full process of filing, scrutiny, allocation of cases, issue of orders, and even clearing of pendency.
• Indexing and processing of disposed files are usually done during this holiday period.
• The gazetted officers of the high court are required to supervise, coordinate and ensure completion of all such duties.

Background

The state government order issued on October 7, 2022, denied compensatory leave to all gazetted officers. Subsequently, the Kerala Service Rules were amended on October 10, 2022, inserting the words “Gazetted Officers” alongside “Heads of Offices,” who had been ineligible for compensatory leave since 1970.

Persuant to this, the chief justice of the high court directed that a communication be issued to the government seeking an exemption for the gazetted officers. However, the government declined the request in 2023 without considering it.

Another request was made to the state to reconsider the compensation leave eligibility for the gazetted officers in August 2024, but the same was again declined without stating any reasons.