The Supreme Court today set aside the order of the Calcutta High Court and upheld the rule in the Indian Airlines Service Regulations stipulating that its employees who wanted to leave the organisation must give six months' notice to the management. Introduced in the boom time for the airlines to prevent pilots flying off to better jobs, the rule also specifies that private airlines could not employ those who were in the national carriers without getting no-objection certificates from their employers.
The rule was challenged by a pilot who wanted to join Damania Travels. The high court struck down the rule as unconstitutional. It held the rule interfered with the freedom every person possessed to engage in any work he chose. It also stated that the rule had nothing to do with the safety of the aircraft operations. The Supreme Court, while allowing the appeal of the IA chairman, emphasised that an employer could impose such a regulation on the employee and it would not violate either the constitutional provisions or the provisions of the Contract Act.
"An employee when he joins service is subject to certain terms and conditions and he cannot quit the employment without giving requisite notice to the employer. What should be the duration of a reasonable notice in such circumstances is a matter to be decided in each case depending upon the exigencies, needs or necessities and the essentiality of the service concerned," the judgment said.