Rajshri Shrivastava, SVKM’s NMIMS, School of Law, Navi Mumbai
ABSTRACT
Owing to its origin to common law, the Doctrine of Pleasure was adopted from England in the Indian Constitution under part XIV, Article 310. However, the provision of goodwill of the Crown was replaced by pleasure of the President in case of public servants in Defense services or civil services of the union. Similarly, in the states, officers in civil services could hold their office at the pleasure of governor. The Constitution, however, guarantees the safeguard of civil servants by explicitly mentioning in the Article "Except as expressly provided by this Constitution” and make provision for removal from duty only in cases “connected with any misconduct on their (civil servant’s) part”. Further, in Article 311, safeguard to civil servants is laid down under the provisions of protection of removal of office. The article guarantees that the person holding a position in civil services will be provided with an opportunity of being heard on the charges on him and only on the basis of evidence produced during the investigation is he liable for penalty or removal from office. Additionally, benefit of Article 311 in the Indian Constitution is to ascertain safeguarding interest of the civil services employees against arbitrary dismissal or reduction to a lower rank. Indian Constitution further guarantees safeguard of tenure to the civil services government employees by making Article 311 provisions enforceable in a court of law. The doctrine of pleasure was introduced in the British era and has not yet reduced in relevance even today. The aim and objective of this research paper is hence, to analyze what are the rights of civil servants in India vis-à-vis doctrine of pleasure along with a comparative study of rights of civil servants in India with other countries.
