IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 2015 of 2009 Between: K.Dhana Lakshmi W/o.K.Kamalakar ICDS Project, Buchireddypalem, Nellore District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Regional Director, Women Development and Child Welfare Ongole, 2 The Project Director, District Women And Child Welfare Agency, Nellore 3 Integrated Child Development Services, Buchireddypalem, Nellore District ...RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.R.RADHA KRISHNA REDDY Counsel for respondents: AGP FOR WOMEN DEVELOPMENT & CHILD WELFARE The Court made the following : O R D E R: At the interlocutory stage, the writ petition is taken up for hearing and disposal with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties. This writ petition is filed for a writ of Mandamus to set aside proceedings No.516 of 2008 dated 14-12-2008. The petitioner was appointed as Anganwadi worker in the Women Development and Child Welfare Department on 29-12-1988. Thereafter, by order dated 19-04-2006, she was appointed as Supervisor Grade-II on a consolidated amount of Rs.4,000/- per month. The conditions of appointment envisage that the said appointment is for a period of one year from 01-05-2006 to 30-04-2007 and the services can be terminated at any time without issuing any notice by the Regional Director, Women Development and Child Welfare Department, Ongole. Condition No.11 of the said order is relevant for the present purpose, which reads as under- “Smt K.Dhana Laxmi, Supervisor Grade-II is recruited on contract basis and will be reverted back to the same place of her original appointment after completion of her contract period.” The petitioner’s contract appointment was terminated by respondent No.1 by the impugned proceedings on the sole ground that the sodium carbonate solution test conducted by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, ACB, Nellore yielded positive results; that the petitioner was arrested at 5.45 p.m on 11-12-2008 for production before the Court of Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases, Nellore and that she was, accordingly, produced in the said Court on 12-12-2008. At the hearing, Sri R.Radha Krishna Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioner, submitted that while respondent No.1 may be justified in terminating the contract appointment, he ought to have reverted the petitioner back to enable her to continue in her post of Anganwadi worker. The learned Assistant Government Pleader, on the basis of the counter filed by respondent No.1, submitted that since the appointment given to the petitioner was purely contractual and the same was terminable without any notice, no enquiry needed to be held. In my considered view, even if respondent No.1 found that the conduct of the petitioner was not worthy of being continued and wanted to snap the contractual ties with her, the Officer is entitled to send the petitioner back to her original post by terminating the contractual appointment as Supervisor Grade-II. On the mere allegation of involvement in a criminal case, the petitioner cannot be thrown out of her substantive appointment. Unless the respondents follow the procedure prescribed for terminating the petitioner’s services as Anganwadi worker, she is entitled to be continued in the said post. Having terminated the petitioner’s contract, respondent No.1 cannot leave her in the lurch. In fairness, respondent No.1 ought to have surrendered the petitioner to the parent post and thereafter the employer concerned would have been left free to deal with her in the manner, which is permissible in law. For the above reasons, the writ petition is disposed of with the direction to respondent No.2 to take the petitioner back into service as Anganwadi worker, which is her substantive post forthwith. Respondent No.2 is, however, given liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings permissible in law to deal with the situation leading to involvement of the petitioner in the criminal case. As a sequel to disposal of main petition, WPMP No.2546 of 2009 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is disposed of as infructuous. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 22nd April, 2009 vrn