IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION NO : 25955 of 2008 Between: V.Sudarshan Rao S/o.Krishna Rao O/o.The Regional Enforcement Squad at Regional Manager`s office,APSRTC,Mahaboobnagar,AP ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Regional Manager, APSRTC,Mahaboobnagar Region at Mahaboobnagar, AP 2 The Personnel Officer,O/o.The REgionla Manager APSRTC,Mahaboobnagar Region, at Mahaboobnagar, AP .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring that the action of the respondents in not paying the gratuity amount to the petitioner for his out of employment period i.e.2.5.1992 to 13.6.1997 in concerned with his removal as illegal, bad, arbitrary, and contrary to the judgments of this Hon`ble Court and consequently direct the respondents to pay the gratuity with interest for the said period Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.VENKATESWAR RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: SMT.B.G.UMA DEVI The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking a direction to the respondents to pay the gratuity amount for his out of employment period i.e., from 2-05-1992 to 13-06-1997 by counting the continuity of service granted by the Labour Court-III Hyderabad in I.D.No.747 of 1993 dated 10.4.1997. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned standing counsel for the respondent Corporation and at their request the writ petition is taken up for final disposal at the admission stage itself. The petitioner was appointed as a Conductor in the respondent A.P.State Road Transport Corporation on 4.1.1978. While he was working as a Conductor, he was suspended on 02.5.1992 on the charge of cash and ticket irregularity and finally he was removed from service by proceedings dated 20.1.1993. Questioning the same, he approached the Labour Court-III Hyderabad, which by award in ID No.747 of 1993 dated 10.4.1997 directed the Corporation to reinstate the petitioner into service with continuity of service with all attendant benefits. Thereafter, he was reinstated into service on 13.6.1997. Subsequently, he was promoted as Assistant Depot Clerk and further promoted as TTI. On attaining superannuation, he retired from service on 31.10.2008. The grievance of the petitioner is that the respondents are not paying him the gratuity for the period he was out of employment earlier even though the Labour Court awarded continuity of service with all attendant benefits and the award has become final. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that once the petitioner was reinstated into service with continuity of service, he cannot be denied the retirement benefits for the period during which he was out of service and extension of the said benefit does not depend upon the actual physical service in the corporation. The learned counsel further submits that the issue involved in this writ petition is squarely covered by the decision of this Court reported in M.Rama Rao v. Assistant Traffic Manager, APSRTC, Hyderabad [1] wherein this Court held that in a case where under Section 11 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Labour Court has set aside the order of removal of an employee and directed that the employee be reinstated into service with continuity of service, the management could not deny the payment of gratuity to the employee on his retirement for the period during which he was out of employment as a result of the order of removal. In the light of the judgment of this Court referred to above and in view of the submission made by the learned counsel for both the parties that the above said judgment governs the case, the writ petition is allowed in terms thereof and the respondents are directed to extend the monetary benefits to the petitioner for the period during which he was out of employment viz., from 2.5.1992 to 13.6.1997. N.V.RAMANA,J DT.11.12.2008 msv [1] 1998(3) ALD 76