All India services manual Vol.2

The general law of master and servant to the effect that the servant is at the pleasure of the master will stand in every case except in those where the same has been abrogated either by a statutory provision or by a special contract. In the case of Government servants to whom Article 311 of the Constitution is applicable and in those cases where the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act are applicable the general law that a servant is at the pleasure of the master stands abrogated to the extent to which the provisions of the Constitution or the Industrial Disputes Act provide.

The concept of employment involves three ingredients: (1) employer, (2) employee, and (3) the contract of employment. The employer is one who employs, i.e., one who engages; and the employee is he who works for another for hire. The employment is the contract of service between the employer and the employee whereunder the employee agrees to serve the employer subject to his control and supervision.

The relationship of master and servant is essentially contractual. It is created and continued with mutual consent. Just as the master cannot force the servant to continue to serve him, so also a servant cannot force his services upon the master. There is a body of general law relating to masters and servants and the source of general law is still the English Common Law to a large extent.

Article 310(2) of Constitution of India is a special provision which deals with a special situation where a contract is entered between the Government and a person appointed under the Constitution to hold a Civil Post. But simply because there may be, a contractual employment, as envisaged under Article 310(2) of the Constitution, the relationship of all other Government Servants, as a class, and the Government, cannot be said to be contractual. It is well settled that except in the case of a person who has been appointed under a written contract, employment under the Government is a matter of status and not of contract even though it may be said to have started initially by a contract in the sense that the offer of appointment is acepted by the employee.

The first, second and third editions of the book was received well by the Bench and Bar and from all indications it served adequately the purpose for which it was intended of assisting the legal profession in clear and precise appreciation of the law on the subject, the author feels amply rewarded. It was viewed to provided to members of the Bar and Bench a compact book clucking the mass of authorities on the obscure and complicated provisions of law relating to service laws the first edition of this book was published.