IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE R.SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No: 21051 of 2000 Between: Y.Veeraiah, S/o.Rajaiah, Devarakonda, Nalgonda District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 A.P.S.R.T.C., Rep. by its Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Musheerabad, Hyderabad. 2 A.P.S.R.T.C., Rep. by its Regional Manager, Nalgonda Region Nalgonda, Nalgonda District. 3 A.P.S.R.T.C., Rep. by its Depot Manager, Miryalaguda, Nalagonda District. .....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 of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ order or directions directing the respondents to ﬁx the pay of the petitioner by computing the periodical increments during the out of employment period and pay arrears and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem ﬁt in the circumatances of the case otherwise the petitioner may suﬀer irreparable loss and hard ship. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.P.GOVINDA RAJULU Counsel for the Respondent No.: SMT.B.G.UMA DEVI The Court made the following : ORDER: In this writ petition, the petitioner who was working as Driver in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (for short –‘the Corporation’) seeks direction, by way of Mandamus, to re-ﬁx his pay by adding the notional increments during the period for which he was out of service on account of his removal from service pursuant to the award of the Labour Court-III, Hyderabad in I.D.No.108 of 1994 dated 17-06-1998. The petitioner was appointed in the service of the Corporation as a Driver in the year 1986, but however, attributing negligence while driving the vehicle of the Corporation, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him and as a result of the disciplinary proceedings, the petitioner was removed from service by the order dated 13-02-2002. The petitioner questioned the order of his removal from service by raising an industrial dispute by way of an application under Section 2-A(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act in I.D.No.108 of 1994 before the Labour Court- III, Hyderabad and the Labour Court by the award dated 17-06-1998 ordered reinstatement of the petitioner into service with continuity of service with attendant beneﬁts but without back wages. Though, in the operative portion of the award, the Labour Court directed the respondent (Corporation) to reinstate the petitioner into service with continuity of service with attendant beneﬁts but without back wages, in the last sentence of the penultimate paragraph it is clearly mentioned that the order of the respondent (Corporation) is set aside by reinstating the petitioner into service with continuity of service but without back wages and without attendant benefits. In this writ petition, the only contention of the petitioner is that though as per the Award of the Labour Court he was ordered to be reinstated into service with continuity of service, the Corporation failed to compute the notional increments while re-ﬁxing his pay on reinstatement for the period for which he was out of service on account of his removal from service. This question is no more a valid question because the Apex Court in catena of judgments so also in the case of I.LAXMA REDDY vs. A.P.S.R.T.C. AND OTHERS[1] categorically held that merely because the beneﬁt of continuity of service is given an employee will not automatically become entitled for notional increments for the period for which he was out of service. In view of the said judgment, the argument advanced by the learned counsel for petitioner that the petitioner is entitled for the notional increments in view of the beneﬁt of continuity of service given by the Labour Court cannot be accepted and as no other argument is advanced, this writ petition fails and is devoid of merits. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs. _______________________ R.SUBHASH REDDY, J 04th November 2008 CVRK [1] 2007(13) SCALE 383