Substantive Capacity - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition substantive-capacity

Definition :

Substantive capacity, means capacity other than an officiating or temporary capacity and would imply that the holder thereof had a lien on his post, Prem Nath Sharma v. Vice-Chancellor, Lucknow, University, AIR 1959 All 618.

Substantive capacity, the emphasis imparted by the adjective 'substantive' is that a thing is substantive if it is 'an essential part or constituent or relating to what is essential'. The Court may describe a capacity as substantive if it has 'independent existence' or is of 'considerable amount or quantity'. What is independent in a substantial measure may reasonably be described as subs-tantive. Therefore, when a post is vacant, however designated in officiates, the capacity in which the person holds the post has to be ascertained by the State. Substantive capacity refers to the capacity in which a person holds the post and not necessarily to the nature or character of the post. To approximate to the official diction used in this connection, we may well say that a person is said to hold a post in a substantive capacity when he holds it for an indefinite period especially of long duration in contradistinction to a person who holds it for a definite or temporary period or holds it on probation subject to confirmation, Baleshwar Dass v. State of U.P., AIR 1981 SC 41: (1980) 4 SCC 226: (1981) 1 SCR 449.