IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SECOND DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.26527 of 2005 Between: 1 R.Seshaiah S/o.late Sri.R.Appa Rao 2 K.Yadagiri S/o.K.Misraaiah 3 A.Srinivasa Rao S/o.A.Mukund RAo 4 M.Ravinder S/o.M.Narasaiah 5 M.Nagamani W/o.B.Yuvarajula Naidu 6 R.Surender Reddy S/o.R.Gopal Reddy 7 C.Pavan Kumar] S/o.Late Sri Chedilal 8 B.Pavan Kumar S/o.B.Satyanarayana Murthy 9 G.Sireesha W/o.G.V.Sanjeeva Reddy 10 E.Padmavathi W/o.Sri G.Upendra Babu 11 Ahmut Abdullah Khan S/o.Mohd.Mujibullah Khan 12 P.Koteshwar Rao S/O.P.Kotaiah 13 M.Sriramachandra Murthy S/o.M.Suryanarayana Murthy 14 T.Balatirunadh S/o.T.K.M.Ramachandra Rao 15 Shaik Ahmed S/o.Abdul Rahman 16 M.Gangaiah S/o.Guravaiah 17 William Joseph S/o.K.M.Joseph 18 Sukhdev Singh S/o.Kashi Ram 19 Y.Narasimha S/o.Y.Mallaiah 20 M.N.Ramesh S/o.M.Chandraiah 21 N.Anjaneyulu S/o.N.Ramulu 22 G.Pavan Kumar S/o.G.Suryanarayana 23 S.Srinivas Reddy S/o.S.Rami Reddy 24 Mohd.Abdul Waheed S/o.Mohd.Ismail 25 Arjun Singh S/o.Giridhar Singh 26 G.Narasmimha S/o.G.Kondaiah 27 M.Prabhakar S/o.M.Mutyalu 28 M.Chittari S/o.M.Mallaiah 29 M.Venugopal S/o.M.narayana 30 P.Ram Koteswara Rao S/o.P.Subba Rao 31 Ch.Bhimaseshu S/o.Ch.Rama Rao 32 K.V.Balachandran S/o.K.Vasudevan Nair 33 Y.Narasamma W/o.Late Y.Suresh 34 K.Surender S/o.K.Krishnaiah 35 M.Venkataiah S/o.M.Narasaiah ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh rep.by its Secretary to the Government, Law Legislature Affairs and Judicial Courts Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Secretariat, Hyderabad 2 The State of Andhra Pradesh, rep.by its Principal Secretary to Government Finance Department, Secretariat, Hyd 3 Andhra Pradesh, High Court, rep.by its Registrar General 4 The Andhra Pradesh, Judicial Academy, rep by its Director, S.P.Road, Secunderabad 5 The State of A.P., rep. by the Chief Secretary to the Government, Secretariat, Hyderabad .....RESPONDENTS 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 issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus by: a) Declare the action of respondents in not granting special incentives to staff members of A.P. Judicial Academy on par with other Category-I institutes of the State Government as arbitrary, illegal and violative of article 14&16 of the Constitution of India: b) Direct the respondents to grant special Incentive on par with other Category-I Institutes of the State Government in terms of G.O.Ms.No.227 dated 4.7.2000 w.e.f.4.7.2000 with all consequential benefits including auras and pass such order or further orders as are deemed fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioners: Mr.ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LAW & LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU W.P.No.26527 of 2005 O R D E R: (per C.V. RAMULU,J) This Writ Petition is filed seeking to declare the action of respondents in not granting special incentive to the members of staff of Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy on par with other Category-I Institutes of the State Government as arbitrary, illegal and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and consequently to direct the respondents to grant special incentive to the petitioners on par with Category-I Training Institutes of the State Government in terms of G.O.Ms.No.227, General Administration (AR&T.III) Department, dated 4-7-2000 with effect from 4-7-2000 with all consequential benefits. Petitioners were all initially recruited in the Andhra Pradesh High Court Service in different cadres and presently working with A.P. Judicial Academy on deputation basis. The State of Andhra Pradesh had established A.P. Judicial Academy to impart training to the Judicial Officers vide G.O.Ms.No.568, dated 28-9-1991. Government has declared A.P. Judicial Academy as Category-I Training Institute on par with other Institutes listed out vide G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3-1988. The governance of A.P. Judicial Academy is headed by Chief Pattern, who will be the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh. The Hon’ble Chief Justice nominates a Judge of the High Court as the President and such Judges of the High Court as Members of the Board of Governors of the Academy. The Academy is headed by a Director, who will be in the rank of District and Sessions Judge Grade-I, assisted by an Additional Director, Senior Faculty Member etc. The State Government had sanctioned special incentive to the faculty, who were brought on deputation to the State Training Institutes, such as, A.P. Police Academy and other Training Institutes of the State Government. The policy of the State Government in grant of special incentive to the Training Institutes has been set out in G.O.Ms.No.227, dated 4-7-2000. Further, as per the said G.O., the Directors or Heads of all State Training Institutes shall be responsible for identifying the persons, who will be eligible for this training incentive, so that the State Government can sanction the same to such of those persons. A.P. Judicial Academy Officers, such as, Director, Additional Director, Senior Faculty Member, Deputy Director and Assistant Director were granted special incentive with effect from July,2000. The incentive has been granted to Category-I Institutes to encourage high excellence of the training institutes. Petitioners are working in A.P.Judicial Academy on administrative side. Persons, who are working similarly in other training institutes, such as, A.P. Police Academy, A.P. Excise Academy and Police Training Colleges situated at various places in the State are being paid special incentive. In fact, the Administrative Officer of the Academy was not initially sanctioned the special incentive. The Board of Governors of the Academy had passed a resolution on 24-1-2004 identifying the post of Administrative Officer as eligible for sanction of 15% of the basic pay as incentive on par with other Judicial Officers working in the Academy. The Board also resolved and identified staff members of the Academy for sanction of 15% of basic pay as incentive on par with staff members of A.P. Police Academy. The said resolution was forwarded to the State Government for sanction of 15% of the basic pay as incentive. The Administrative Officer of the Academy was granted special incentive vide Order dated 20-3-2004 on par with other officers, whereas the case of the petitioners for grant of special incentive is still pending. Further, petitioners have submitted a detailed representation dated 15-11-2003 to the respondents for grant of special incentive to them on par with staff members of A.P. Police Academy. For this also, respondents have not passed any orders. The action of respondents in not granting special incentive to the staff members of the A.P.Judicial Academy on par with the staff members of A.P. Police Academy is arbitrary, illegal and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. On behalf of the 1st respondent, a counter and additional counter are filed stating inter alia that as per the policy decision of the Government, the Directors or Heads of Training Institutes have to identify eligible candidates for sanction of special incentive. It is admitted that the Board of Governors of A.P. Judicial Academy had passed a resolution on 24-1-2004 identifying the staff members of the Academy for sanction of 15% of the basic pay as incentive on par with the staff members of A.P. Police Academy and the said resolution was forwarded to the State Government for sanction of special incentive on par with staff members of other Training Institutes. Since PRC-2005 has not considered the case of the petitioners, no further action needs to be taken at this stage. On behalf of the 2nd respondent, counter and additional counter are filed stating inter alia that with regard to the representation of staff members of A.P. Judicial Academy for sanction of incentive allowance at 15% of basic pay on par with A.P. Police Academy, the Finance Department has received the proposals on 7-7-2007 from the Home Department. After examining the report of Pay Revision Commission- 2005, it was noticed that the request of staff members of Judicial Academy has not been considered by the Commission and the same was informed to the Home Department on 20-9-2007. Under those circumstances, the Writ Petition is devoid of merits and is liable to be dismissed. It appears, the Chief Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh was impleaded as 5th respondent, who filed an additional counter stating inter alia that the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, Government of India vide D.O.Lr.No.12017/2/86-/Trg.(TNP), dated 12-2- 1986 recommended for adoption by State Governments of the guidelines/instructions issued by them in regard to incentives to faculty members, who join the Training Institutes on deputation, in order to attract the best training talent for the training institutes under the State Government also. Keeping in view the guidelines issued in the said letter, the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to the Government and the Orders issued in G.O.Ms.No.74, dated 25-3-1987, Government has decided to introduce a scheme of incentives in order to attract the best talented officers on deputation for training institutes under the State Government. Accordingly, orders were issued in G.O.Ms.No.188, General Administration (AR&T.III) Department, dated 29-3-1988. In the said G.O., the training institutes in the State were classified as under: a. Category-I 1. Institute of Administration, Hyderabad Nodal institution 2. A.P. Police Academy, Hyderabad } These institutes 3. A.P. Law Academy, Hyderabad. } have sustained 4. Water and Land Managing Training } multi-training dimensional and Research Institute,} activity. Hyderabad } b. Category-II ………………………………………… Further, the Departments of Secretariat shall categorize the faculty for determining eligibility for sanction of training allowance in consultation with the General Administration Department. Accordingly, orders were issued in G.O.Ms.No.58, Home (Police.D) Department, dated 18-3-1998 with the concurrence of Finance Department for payment of 30% of pay as incentive to all the staff members of A.P. Police Academy in order to attract talented and experienced faculty members on deputation. The matter was examined by the Anomalies Committee in 2003 and based on the recommendations of the said committee, orders were issued in G.O.(P) No.511, Finance (TA) Department, dated 11-6-2004 sanctioning special allowance of 20% of basic pay to the faculty members and 10% of basic pay to other categories in A.P. Police Academy, in modification of the Orders issued in G.O.Ms.No.58, dated 18-3-1998. Further, the issue was examined by the Pay Revision Commission-2005 and recommended that the ‘existing allowances etc., may be continued at the current level’. Thereafter, the Government accepted the said recommendation and issued orders in G.O.Ms.No.339, Finance (TA) Department, dated 3-11-2005. It is further stated that the A.P. Judicial Academy figured in G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3-1988 as A.P. Law Academy, Hyderabad under Category-I training institutions, with eligibility of training allowance for Director General/Directors at Rs.400/- per month, for senior faculty at Rs.300/- per month and all other faculty members at Rs.200/- per month. Orders were issued in G.O.Ms.No.239, Home (Courts.A) Department, dated 9-6-1993 declaring A.P. Judicial Academy as Category-I training institute for the purpose of incentives as per G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3-1988. This Institute was declared as Head of the Department for purpose of financial transactions as required under A.P. Financial Code, vide G.O.Ms.No.475, Home (Courts.A) Department, dated 28-9-1992 and orders were issued in G.O.Ms.No.568, Home (Courts.A) Department, dated 28-9-1991 creating certain posts in the Institute. It is admitted that a resolution was passed by the Board of Governors of A.P. Judicial Academy on 24-1-2004 to consider the request of the staff members of the academy for sanction of 15% of basic pay as incentive on par with the staff members of A.P. Police Academy and forwarded the recommendation to the State Government. On the advice of the Finance Department, the matter was placed before Pay Revision Commission-2005, which did not make any specific recommendations on the request of Judicial Academy, but observed to continue the existing allowances at the current level. As such, no special action was called for on the recommendation of PRC- 2005 in respect of Judicial Academy. It is also stated that the intention of sanction of training incentive is to attract talented officers for the training institutes as faculty members. Hence, the allowance was limited to the teaching faculty only as mentioned in G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3-1988 as a policy, which exists in case of the Departments of Government of India also. The claim of the Judicial Academy for sanction of training incentive to all the staff members i.e., non-teaching members like Section Officers, Assistant Section Officers, Typists, Drivers, Attenders etc., is not correct. The members of the staff of Judicial Academy cannot compare themselves with the staff members of A.P. Police Academy for sanction of training incentive. The incentive was sanctioned to the staff of A.P. Police Academy after examining the issue in detail, by taking into consideration the circumstances and the nature of work i.e., training programmes being conducted in the Police Academy and the working hours. In view of the above and also in view of the observations of Anomalies Committee-2003 the staff of Judicial Academy do not warrant payment of incentive. Heard both sides. The short question that arises for consideration is whether the petitioners are entitled for special incentive as per the recommendations made by the Board of Governors of A.P. Judicial Academy ? It is an admitted fact that Andhra Pradesh Judicial Academy has been enumerated as one of the Category-I Training Institutes in the State of Andhra Pradesh vide G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3-1988. Further, in G.O.Ms.No.227, General Administration (AR&T.III) Department, dated 4-7-2000 it is stated that Directors/Heads of all State Training Institutes referred to in G.O.Ms.No.188, dated 29-3- 1988 shall be responsible for identifying the persons, who shall be eligible for the training incentive and a list of such persons shall be sent to the Director General of Dr.MCR HRD Institute of Andhra Pradesh for clearance before issue of administrative orders. It appears, in pursuance of the representation made by the staff of Judicial Academy, the Board of Governors of the Academy in the meeting held on 24-1- 2004 resolved to identify the post of Administrative Officer and staff members of the Academy for fixing of 15% of basic pay as incentive on par with the staff members of A.P. Police Academy. Accordingly, a letter was addressed to the Secretary to Government, Law Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad on 23-2-2004 wherein it was stated that the Academy has been conducting various training programmes and since last year onwards, the Academy has been conducting two to three training programmes simultaneously at a time and the Academy has also been conducting Zonal Workshops at District Headquarters level in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In view of the above reasons, the Judicial Academy requested the Government to consider for granting of incentive allowance at 15% on basic pay to all the staff members working in the Academy on par with the staff members of Police Academy. But, till date there was no response. On the other hand, in the counter filed by the 5th respondent, Government was trying to explain that the training imparted at A.P. Police Academy is altogether different from that of the training imparted in the A.P. Judicial Academy and the nature of duties attended to by the staff members of A.P. Police Academy is sometimes outdoor one. It was also stated that the intention of sanction of training allowance is to attract talented Officers for training institutes as faculty members and, therefore the allowance is limited to the teaching faculty only. The claim of Judicial Academy that all the staff members i.e. non-teaching staff like Section Officers, Assistant Section Officers, Typists, Drivers, Attenders, etc., is not correct. This stand of the 5th respondent cannot be accepted. Now, the training is imparted at A.P. Judicial Academy round the year and sometimes even two to three programmes are taken-up simultaneously. Though no counter is filed, learned counsel appearing for 4th respondent-Judicial Academy has vehemently contended that the training programme is strenuous and all the staff members have to work round the clock. They have to attend the training programmes early in the morning and work up to late in the evening and on many occasions, they are also supposed to work on holidays. Apart from the Director and other teaching faculty, the Judges of the High Court and other academicians from various fields are invited for delivering lecturers. Therefore, the staff members also have to work along with the teaching faculty. They work hard to meet the exigencies of attending to more than two training programmes simultaneously. In the recent years, there is a hectic training programme arranged for the judicial officers at various levels, i.e.,Junior Civil Judges, Senior Civil Judges and District Judges. Therefore, the duties attended to by the staff members of Judicial Academy are very ordeal in their nature and as such, they, in fact, require to be sanctioned with 15% of basic pay as incentive on par with other training institutes in the State of Andhra Pradesh like A.P. Police Academy. The Government is not justified in not sanctioning the incentive on the ground that the staff members of the Judicial Academy are not talented officers and only faculty members are entitled for such incentive. This stand taken by the 5th respondent is unreasonable and not in tune with the recommendation made by the Board of Governors of Judicial Academy. It is a fact that the non- teaching staff of Judicial Academy also work like the teaching staff. Therefore, the contention of the 5th respondent that the non-teaching staff members of Judicial Academy cannot compare themselves with that of the staff members of A.P. Police Academy and other Institutes is untenable. The staff members of Judicial Academy equally work hard throughout the year, including holidays in conducting various training programmes in the academy. Therefore, the staff members of A.P. Judicial Academy are entitled for special incentives as per the recommendations made by the Board of Directors of the Judicial Academy. For all the above reasons, the respondents are directed to consider sanction of special incentive to staff members of A.P. Judicial Academy on par with other Category-I Institutes of the State Government, like A.P. Police Academy and pass appropriate orders, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. __________ (V.V.S.RAO,J) 02.4.2008 ______________ (C.V.RAMULU,J) prk