IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SEVENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 17112 of 2008 Between: The Municipal Commissioner, Ramagundam Municipality, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 K.Balakrishna Ramagundam Municipality, Karimnagar District. 2 The Govt. of A.P., Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 3 The Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration, A.P., Hyderabad. 4 Sd. Sharfddin Bellabad Municipality, Adilabad District. ( Respondents 2 to 4 are not necessary parties to this Writ Petition). .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue a Writ, order or direction more particularly one in the order passed by the Hon'ble A.P.Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 4916/2008, dt. 9.7.2008, as illegal, arbitrary and contrary to principles of natural justice and consequently set aside the same, and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.RADHA KRISHNA POLISETTY (SC FOR MPL) Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU Writ Petition No.17112 of 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) This writ petition is ﬁled by Ramagundam Municipality seeking to quash the interim order dated 09-7- 2008 in O.A.No.4916 of 2008 on the ﬁle of Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad. 2. The ﬁrst respondent–applicant ﬁled the above O.A. challenging the action of the Municipality in not permitting him to discharge the duties as Sanitary Inspector pursuant to the transfer order dated 19-6-2008 issued by third respondent herein. When O.A. came up for admission and grant of interim relief, the Tribunal upon hearing learned counsel for the ﬁrst respondent and learned counsel appearing for oﬃcial respondents and considering the material on record, passed the interim order, the relevant portion of which reads as under: “3. Considering the transfer orders issued in consequence of the orders of the Government in G.O.Ms.No.134 dated 09-5-2008 the period from the date of reporting till the applicant is permitted to join duty by the Commissioner, Ramagundam Municipality, will have to be treated as Compulsory Wait. It is to be noted here that public funds should not be wasted without taking any work from the applicant herein. 4. In view of such circumstances, taking serious view of the matter, the applicant’s period from the date of reporting duty at Ramagundam Municipality till the Commissioner, Ramagundam Municipality, permits him to join duty shall be treated as Compulsory Wait and payment shall be made by deducting the same from the salary of the Commissioner, Ramagundam Municipality in view of not allowing the applicant to join duty in view of the transfer orders issued pursuant to the orders of the Government in G.O.Ms.No.134 dated 09-5-2008. Therefore, pending further orders in the OA, Respondent No.3 is directed to take the applicant to duty forthwith.” 3. Learned standing counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that the Tribunal ought not to have given the above direction without adjudicating the matter on merits and the observations at this stage are uncalled for. 4. We have considered the contentions advanced by the learned standing counsel and perused the impugned order. It is seen from the impugned order that the O.A. was admitted and notice issued to the respondents. The Tribunal has dealt with the transfer order and consequences thereof, at the interlocutory stage when the challenge itself is to the action of the petitioner in not permitting the ﬁrst respondent to discharge the duties as Sanitary Inspector. It is settled law that the transfer is an incidence of service, but the issue is whether the petitioner had allowed the applicant to join the duty or whether the applicant had gone to join the duty or not, has to be decided at the time of hearing of O.A. In the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the order of the Tribunal directing that the payment shall be made by deducting from the salary of the Commissioner, Ramagundam Municipality, by treating the period from the date of reporting till the applicant is permitted to join the duty as ‘compulsory wait’, is unwarranted at this stage and this portion of the order is liable to be and accordingly set aside. We make it clear that the petitioner shall permit the ﬁrst respondent – applicant to join the duty by passing written orders, within a period of three days from today. The Tribunal shall dispose of O.A. expeditiously. 5. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of at the stage of admission. ___________________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J. ___________________ C.V.RAMULU, J. 07-08-2008 Note: Furnish copy by tomorrow on usual terms. (b/o) bsc bsc