IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.3513 of 2005 BETWEEN P. Shyam Sunder. ... PETITIONER AND Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Musheerabad, Hyderabad and two others. ...RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: MR. G. VIDYASAGAR Counsel for the Respondents: MR. SRIDHAR REDDY POTTIGARI The Court made the following: ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not paying the Standard Schedule Rates (Skilled Wages (ITI)) notified by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the year 2002-2003 on par with others as illegal and arbitrary; further to declare the proceedings No.AS/Gen(1)/2004-EE:WL dated 16.11.2004 issued by the respondent – corporation as illegal and arbitrary and consequently direct the respondents to pay the Standard Schedule Rates (SSR) notified by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the year 2002-2003. 2. It appears that the petitioner joined APSRTC as Work Inspector, Civil Engineering Department with effect from 01.01.1992. He had put in more than 13 years of continuous service and made representations for regularization of his services. The respondent – corporation entered into settlement under Section 12(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 wherein one of the clauses relates to regularization of casual workers working in Civil Engineering Department. As per Clause 18.2 of the settlement dated 28.04.1994 it was agreed to regularize the casual employees working in the Civil Engineering Department and the Industrial Engineering Department was asked to evaluate the number of vacancies available vis-à-vis the number of employees working in the Civil Engineering Department. However, the said work of identifying the vacancies had not been completed thereby the petitioner was being continued as temporary employee in the civil engineering department. Now the grievance of the petitioner is that though he is being engaged continuously, he is not paid as per the SSR, which is being notified by APSRTC. 3. It appears that earlier petitioner filed WP.No.16964 of 2004 seeking Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in not paying SSR notified by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the year 2002-2003 on par with others as illegal and arbitrary. The said writ petition was disposed of on 22.09.2004 directing the respondents 2 and 3 therein to go through the letter of the I.T.I dated 12.04.2004 and after satisfying about the genuineness of the I.T.I certificate, they shall extend the benefit of the wages of a skilled worker to the petitioner by passing appropriate orders. Thereafter, in obedience to the order passed by this Court on 22.09.2004 in the above writ petition, proceeding were issued by the Executive Engineer, Warangal, stating that the I.T.I certificate held by the petitioner is being referred for verification to the Vigilance & Security Officer, Karimnagar Zone. The Vigilance & Security Officer in turn addressed a letter to the Executive Engineer dated 30.10.2004 stating that the Deputy Director (FAC), Department of Employment & Training, Hyderabad certified that no institution will function on public holidays and the timing mentioned by the Venus ITI, Warangal were against the norms fixed by the Director, Department of Employment & Training, Hyderabad. Therefore, the information furnished by the Venus ITI appears to be wrong. On the basis of this letter, the Executive Engineer came to the conclusion that he is not satisfied with the genuineness of the certificate of the petitioner and the petitioner was again denied wages as per SSR fixed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. 4. From the above, it is clear that the respondents have not enquired as to the genuineness of the very certificate held by the petitioner except saying that it appears to be wrong. The authority to enquire into such matters is the Director of Employment & Training, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, in spite of that the Deputy Director (FAC), Department of Employment and Training has expressed doubt as to the certificate but not definitely expressed his opinion in this regard. Unless the certificate issued to the petitioner by Venus I.T.I, which was certified and affirmed by the Director of Employment and Training, is held to be not genuine the petitioner is entitled for the Standard Schedule Rates [Skilled Wages (ITI)] notified by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the year 2002-2003 on par with others. Therefore, the respondents are directed to extend the Standard Schedule Rates [Skilled Wages (ITI)] to the petitioner forthwith. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. ____________ C.V. RAMULU, J February 1, 2011 DSK