NEW DELHI: A “clarification letter” issued by the Center in 2004 brought discriminatory standards for determination of milk fat layer into reality, but surprisingly, its roots are yet to be identified.While settling the dispute and ruling that all government and non-government employees must follow the same standards, the Supreme Court noted that the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes had also stated in its report that the source of the letter was contrary to the 1993 Office Memorandum (OM) and could not be traced.“The opinion of the parliamentary committee provides institutional support for the view that paragraph 9 creates an ambiguity of interpretation and may go beyond its intended scope. The report records that the 2004 letter did not originate from the Department of Transport Secretariat and that its source cannot be traced from the original explanatory document,” the court said.The court further observed that it is a settled principle that any proceeding in the nature of an administrative order or office memorandum issued in the exercise of executive power under Article 162 of the Constitution, a government letter alone cannot have the effect of overturning, overruling or superseding any proceeding. “The clarification letter must, therefore, be strictly construed as interpreting or supplementing the basic guidelines laid down in the OM, 1993, which was issued after due consideration and following necessary procedures, and not altering its substantive framework,” it said.
