Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 18: In a significant ruling, a Division Bench of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar has held that no writ of Mandamus can be issued to compel the Government to amend a law or subordinate legislation in a particular manner.
The judgment came while dismissing an intra-court appeal filed by Mohammad Maqbool and others challenging Rule 13 of the Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Societies Service Rules, 1988 (SRO 233), which prescribes 58 years as the retirement age for Cooperative Society employees.
The Division Bench upheld the earlier judgment of the Writ Court dated April 26, 2023, which had found no merit in the plea and had dismissed the petition filed by the appellants.
The appellants, some of whom have retired and others still in service, had approached the court seeking parity in retirement age with Government employees, who retire at 60. They relied on a proposal made by a Government-constituted Committee in 1995, which recommended amending SRO 233 to enhance the age of superannuation.
Though the proposal was forwarded by the Registrar Cooperative Societies to the Commissioner/Secretary of the Cooperative Department in 1997, no further action was taken by the Government.
The High Court, however, made it clear that legislative or policy decisions are within the exclusive domain of the Government. “It is trite law that the court cannot, in the exercise of writ jurisdiction, issue Mandamus to the Government to legislate,” the Division Bench observed.
The DB further stated that SRO 233 of 1988 is a valid piece of subordinate legislation framed under Section 124 of the J&K Cooperative Societies Act, 1960 and saved under the 1989 Act. As per Rule 13, the age of retirement for Cooperative Society employees has been fixed at 58 years, and unless the Government formally amends the rule, no right to continue beyond that age exists.
Dismissing the appellants’ plea as “grossly misconceived,” the DB ruled that employees of Cooperative Societies are governed by their own bye-laws and cannot claim automatic parity with Government servants.
Finding no merit in the appeal, the Division Bench dismissed the same, reinforcing that policy amendments cannot be judicially enforced unless backed by law.
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