IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY NINETH DAY OF DECEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 27683 of 2008 Between: 1 P. Rajender Reddy, S/o. Sri P. Narasimha Reddy, (Urban Forestry), Hyderabad. Metropolitan Development Authority, Hyderabad. 2 G. Santosh Kumar, S/o. Sri G. Venkat Kishen Rao, Vigilance II O/o. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad. 3 I. Janardhan, S/o. I. Raghunatham, (Joint Forest Management) O/o. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad. 4 G. Prabhakara Reddy, S/o. Sri G. Bali Reddy, (Urban Forestry), Hyderabad. Metropolitan Development Authority, Hyderabad. 5 P. Badusha Saheb, S/o. Sri P. Hussain Saheb, O/o. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad. 6 Sardar Iqbal Singh, S/o. Sri Sardar Khushal Singh, (Urban Forestry), Hyderabad. Metropolitan Development Authority, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Environment, Forests, Science Technology (For V) Department, Rep. by its Special Chief Secretary To Government of Andhra Pradesh, Secretariat, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 2 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Forests, Rep. by its Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Hyderabad. .....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 preferably in the nature of WRIT OF MANDAMUS and hold that non granting of an interim stay of promotions in O.A.NO. 10342/2008 by the Hon'ble A.P.A.T., is, unconstitutional, contrary to law and consequently direct the respondents not to make any promotions to the post os Deputy Conservator of Forests till the disposal of O.A.No. 10342/2008 pending before the Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal. Counsel for the Petitioner:DR.K.LAKSHMI NARASIMHA Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR FORESTS The Court made the following : ORDER: (Per GM, J) This writ petition is filed seeking a writ of mandamus to declare the action of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, in not granting interim stay of promotions in O.A.No.10342 of 2008 filed by the petitioners, as unconstitutional and contrary to law, and consequently to direct the respondents not to make any promotions to the posts of Deputy Conservator of Forests, till disposal of the said O.A. The petitioners are working in the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), which comes under Class A Category 2. As per the note appended to Rule 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Service Rules (for short ‘the Rules’), a quota was fixed between direct recruitees and promotees and that it was fixed as 50% number of substantive vacancies in the above category shall be filled by direct recruitment and as a comparison, the very same Rule provides that 65% number of substantive vacancies in the feeder category i.e., Forest Range Officers shall be filled by way of direct recruitment. While so, the second respondent had prepared provisional seniority list on 14.08.2008 after taking permission from the first respondent. The petitioners state that under the statutory rules, the first respondent is competent to prepare the seniority list, but the second respondent had prepared the list without any power or jurisdiction. In that regard, the petitioners filed their objections by way of representations before the second respondent and the same were rejected vide his order dated 19.05.2008 and prepared final list on the said date itself. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioners again filed representations to the first respondent, who, in turn rejected the same vide memo dated 25.11.2008, against which, the petitioners filed O.A.No.10342 of 2008 before the Tribunal seeking to set aside the said memo and the seniority list dated 19.05.2008, but the Tribunal has not granted any stay with regard to promotions to the posts of Deputy Conservator of Forests. Hence, the present writ petition. Respondents 3 to 5 filed counter-affidavit denying the allegations mentioned in the affidavit filed by the petitioners along with the writ petition. Heard both the learned counsel. In view of the fact that the Tribunal is the prime authority to consider all legal points involved in the matter in order to grant interim stay and as the O.A. is pending before the Tribunal, without expressing any opinion on merits, we direct the Tribunal to dispose of the O.A. within six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order after affording opportunity to both sides. The respondents are directed to file their respective counters. Till such time, status quo is to be maintained. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs. ______________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J _________________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J Date:29.12.2008 sj