IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWELFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION No.19246 of 2008 Between: S.Mahadev S/o. Seetaram Deputy Director of A.P. Forest Academy, Dulapally, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of A.P., Rep. by its Principal Secretary, Environment, Forest, Science and Technology Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Government of A.P., Aranya Bhavan, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 3 P. Ramakrishna S/o. P.N.Jangaiah, Divisional Forest Officer, (Society Forestry), Eluru, West Godavari District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court may be pleased to issue an appropriate Writ or order or direction, one in the nature of writ of Mandamus, i) declaring the order in O.A. 6443/2008 dated 11-8- 2008 of the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, as arbitrary, violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution and the same by set aside; ii) costs be awarded to the petitioner. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.V.RAMANA Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1 & 2: GP FOR SERVICES I Counsel for the Respondent No.3: MR.P.NAVEEN RAO The Court made the following: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION No.19246 OF 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) Assailing the order, dated 11.08.2008, passed in O.A.No.6443 of 2008 on the ﬁle of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, this writ petition has been filed by the 3rd respondent in the said O.A. 2. The aforesaid O.A. has been ﬁled by the 3rd respondent herein, stating that he was appointed by way of direct recruitment in the year 1999 in the cadre of Assistant Conservator of Forests in A.P. Forest Department and that his probation was declared to have been satisfactorily completed in the said cadre in the year 2004, but the oﬃcial respondents have not prepared ﬁnal seniority list of the oﬃcers working in the said cadre for eﬀecting promotions to the post of Deputy Conservator of Forests (State Cadre Post), from the year 2005 onwards, and thereby he is being deprived of promotion to the said post of Deputy Conservator of Forests. 3. The petitioner herein got himself impleaded as 3rd respondent in the said O.A. and it was his case that he was appointed by transfer to the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests in the year 1991, but his probation has not been declared in the said cadre while the probation of the direct recruits was declared, and thereby he is being denied of promotion to the post of Deputy Conservator of Forests, in spite of his eligibility for the same. 4. Before the Tribunal, learned Government Pleader appearing for the oﬃcial respondents submitted that the seniority list of Assistant Conservators of Forests appointed during the period from 01.01.1999 to 01.01.2001 has been prepared and communicated to all the concerned by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests on 19.05.2008. Pursuant thereto, some of the Assistant Conservators of Forests ﬁled their objections to the said seniority list and, thereupon, the Government have appointed a Committee to examine the same and to submit a report, and the said Committee has submitted its report on 18.07.2008, which was circulated to concerned consultancy departments like General Administration Department and Law Department, and after a decision is arrived at by the said consultancy departments, the Government will pass orders with respect to the objections and representations submitted against the said seniority list, and basing on such orders of the Government, regular promotions will be effected to the post of Deputy Conservator of Forests. 5. The Tribunal, after hearing the learned counsel for the parties and after consideration of the matter along with another original application, vide O.A.No.5946 of 2008, ﬁled by one G. Ramalingam and other Assistant Conservators of Forests, aggrieved by the action of the authorities in not ﬁlling up the posts of Deputy Conservators of Forests, passed the impugned order, dated 11.08.2008, whereunder the following directions were given, while issuing notice to the respondents therein before admission: “The seniority list, which is to be considered for eﬀecting promotions to the existing vacancies of Deputy Conservators of Forests (State Cadre Post), is to be prepared with respect to the approved probationers existing and the said seniority list is to be prepared by taking into account the full members of service. While doing so, the unoﬃcial respondents’ plea has to be taken into consideration with respect to the apportionment to direct recruits and to promotees in accordance with the Special Rules. The said exercise with respect to the approved probationers and the persons, who have to be considered as approved probationers are to be taken up for preparing ﬁnal seniority list of full members of services, basing on the report submitted by the Committee and the Special Rules. The oﬃcial respondents to ﬁll up the existing vacancies by taking the seniority of the approved probationers of Assistant Conservators of Forests, so that the public interest does not suﬀer and the same shall be reviewed after finalization of the seniority of the persons, who are working as Assistant Conservators of Forests as on today in accordance with the Special Rules. The Committee has submitted a report to the Government with respect to the apportionment of vacancies to the direct recruits and promotees. The same shall be examined in the light of the Special Rules before finalizing the seniority list. After ﬁnalization of the seniority list, the promotions given to the approved probationers of Assistant Conservators of Forest in the existing vacancies of Deputy Conservators of Forests shall be reviewed. The whole exercise of ﬁnalization of the seniority with respect to the persons, who are working as Assistant Conservators of Forests, shall be completed within the maximum period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and thereafter, ad hoc or temporary promotions, which are given/which will be given by ﬁlling up the posts of Deputy Conservators of Forest shall be reviewed.” Aggrieved by the same, this writ petition has been filed. 6. Sri Ramakrishna Reddy, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner, contended that in the ﬁnal inter se seniority list of Assistant Conservators of Forests (direct recruits and promotees) prepared for the period from 01.01.1999 to 01.01.2001, many anomalies were found violating the ratio of 50:50 between the direct recruits and promotees, and, on the objections raised by the aggrieved persons, the matter was ﬁnally referred to Four-Member Committee and the said Four- Member Committee has submitted a report on 18.07.2008, pursuant to which the Government is considering the entire issue of preparation of common seniority list from 01.01.1999 to 01.01.201 in consultation with General Administration and Law Departments. The same was brought to the notice of the Tribunal by the Government Pleader as well, but however the Tribunal issued interim directions to the oﬃcial respondents to eﬀect promotions to the post of Deputy Conservator of Forests, by taking the seniority of the approved probationers of Assistant Conservators of Forests etc., pending ﬁnalization of the seniority list. The Tribunal ought not to have issued such interim directions, which is in fact beyond the scope of the Original Application, and the same amounts to virtually allowing the Original Application itself at the stage of admission, which is impermissible under law. Learned Senior Counsel has relied on a Judgment of the Supreme Court in State of U.P. v. Ram Sukhi Devi [1], wherein the order impugned therein was set aside on the ground that the ﬁnal relief has been granted at an interim stage without justifiable reasons. 7. On the other hand, learned counsel for the 3rd respondent, Mr. Naveen Rao, vehemently contended that the Tribunal, after detailed consideration of the matter, has rightly issued the interim directions directing the oﬃcial respondents to ﬁll up the existing vacancies of Deputy Conservators of Forests by taking the seniority of the approved probationers of Assistant Conservators of Forests, and that the petitioner, who is a promotee, is not an approved probationer in the said cadre of Assistant Conservator of Forests. 8. Learned Government Pleader for Services-I appearing for the oﬃcial respondents, on instructions, submits that no promotions have been eﬀected as on today in pursuance of the interim order passed by the Tribunal, and that the matter is under active consideration of the Government and the seniority of the Assistant Conservators of Forests has to be ﬁnalized by the Government in consultation with the General Administration, Finance, and Law Departments and, therefore, it requires some more time to ﬁnalize the seniority lists of Assistant Conservators of Forests. It is further submitted that soon after ﬁnalization of the seniority list, action would be taken for ﬁlling up the vacancies of Deputy Conservator of Forests. 9. A perusal of the impugned order indicates that the Tribunal, after detailed consideration of the matter, has directed the oﬃcial respondents to eﬀect promotions by taking the seniority of the approved probationers only, subject to review of the same after ﬁnalization of the seniority list, in order to see that the public interest would not suﬀer and the administration run smoothly. However, according to the learned Government Pleader, as of now, no promotions were eﬀected in pursuance of the said interim directions of the Tribunal. In such view of the matter, we are of the view that no prejudice is caused to the petitioner by the impugned order passed by the Tribunal. 10. Further, in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case, we are of the opinion that the decision relied upon by the learned senior counsel for the petitioner in State of U.P. v. Ram Sukhi Devi (Supra) has no application to the case on hand. The interim relief granted by the Tribunal cannot be said to be the ﬁnal relief that could be granted in the O.A. The Tribunal, while passing the impugned interim order, protected the interests of all concerned, by categorically directing that the promotions that may be given to the approved probationers of Assistant Conservators of Forests shall be reviewed after ﬁnalization of the seniority list, which was directed to be finalized within a period of eight weeks from the date receipt of a copy of the said order. 11. For the foregoing reasons and since the matter is under active consideration of the Government and the Original Application is pending before the Tribunal, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order dated 11.08.2008 passed by the Tribunal. However, in the circumstances, we deem it appropriate to direct the Government to ﬁnalize the seniority list in the cadre of Assistant Conservator of Forests within a period of four weeks from today and the same shall be communicated to all the respective parties. Thereafter, the Tribunal shall dispose of the O.A. as per law, within a period of six weeks therefrom, after giving opportunity of hearing to all the concerned parties. 12. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. _______________________ JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED _______________________ JUSTICE G. BHAVANI PRASAD 12th September, 2008 IBL [1] (2005) 9 SCC 733