DOCTRINE OF PLEASURE-RESTRICTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF PLEASURE UNDER THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION

AUTHOR – GAYATHRI LAKKAMALLA, STUDENT AT DAMODARAM SAJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

BEST CITATION – GAYATHRI LAKKAMALLA, DOCTRINE OF PLEASURE-RESTRICTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF PLEASURE UNDER THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (1) OF 2024, PG. 76-83, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

The Doctrine of Pleasure has its roots from the England. In England, the Crown is known as the Executive head and the civil services are also part of executive. The Doctrine of Pleasure is that the Crown has the power to terminate the services of a civil servant at any time without providing any notice of termination to civil servant. Therefore, civil servants serve at the pleasure of the Crown, who has the power to dismiss them at any time. When the civil servants are fired from the services, they do not have the right to sue the Crown for the wrongful termination, nor they have the right to seek restitution for losses incurred as a result of the termination and also, they cannot ask for damages for the wrongful termination. The doctrine of pleasure was also followed in India. The President is the executive head of the Union so he holds the same position like the Crown in England. In India, the President has the authority to remove a civil servant at any time under this doctrine of pleasure. The doctrine of pleasure was adopted with some modifications in India form that of England. Article 310 has some exceptions which are provided by the Constitution, a civil servant of the Union works at the pleasure of the President and a civil servant in the State works at the pleasure of the Governor of that state. This is evident that the operation of the Doctrine of Pleasure can be limited by constitutional provisions. The Judges of the Supreme Court, Judges of High Courts, Chief Election Commissioner and Comptroller and Auditor General of India are excluded from the operation of Doctrine of Pleasure. So, this doctrine of pleasure is not absolute and it is subject to Constitutional provisions. There is another aspect that the civil servants can also be excluded from the operation of this doctrine because they have been provided with some protection under Article 311 and thus doctrine’s application can be limited to civil servants as well. The procedural safeguards are laid down under Article 311.