THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION Nos.543 and 573 of 2001 COMMON ORDER: None appeared when these matters were called on 10th December 2009 and hence, they were posted to today and even today, there is no representation on behalf of the learned counsel on either side. Both these Writ Petitions can be disposed of commonly, as the question raised therein is identical. The writ petitioners in both these cases are seeking absorption as Cleaners in the service of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (for short, ‘the Corporation’) on the plea that they are displaced servants of private bus operators and they became displaced pursuant to the nationalization of the route on which the buses of private operators were plying. The petitioner in Writ Petition No. 543 of 2001 has asserted that he was working as a Cleaner in the private bus bearing Registration No. APD 1826 plying on Chandur to Choutuppal in Nalgonda District, whereas the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 573 of 2001 was said to be working as a Cleaner on a bus bearing Registration No. ATN 9698 plying on the route Nalgonda to Venkatampeta via Munugudu. They assert that pursuant to the orders passed by the State Government in G.O.Ms.No. 278-331, dated 27th April 1991, the routes on which the private bus operators were plying their buses were nationalized and consequently, the Corporation has substituted its services on those very routes. Since they are displaced persons, in pursuance of the policy decision taken by the Corporation, they sought for absorption of the displaced employees in their service. In the counter-affidavit, it is admitted that 59 buses were displaced in Nalgonda District and there are only 15 vacancies of Cleaners and hence, a notification was issued in the newspapers on 2nd September 1991 inviting applications from the displaced cleaners who worked earlier on private bus routes. It is further asserted that as many as 171 applications were received and they were registered for these 15 vacancies of Cleaners and the Selection Committee constituted by the APSRTC met on 17th September 1991 and interviewed the candidates and amongst them, they have identified 15 candidates, who have come out successfully in the trade test conducted and these 15 Cleaners have been selected for absorption in the service of the Corporation. It is further asserted that the petitioners herein also appeared for the said selections. It is further asserted that the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 543 of 2001 was junior most amongst four Cleaners engaged by the private bus operators. Similarly, the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 573 of 2001 was shown as junior to one Sri V. Srinivas, as a Cleaner of the private bus operator and that the said V. Srinivas was one of the 15 candidates, who has been selected for absorption by the Selection Committee in the services of the Corporation. Now the question that boils down is whether the Corporation should not consider their cases any further for absorption in the service of the Corporation. In fact, the said question was considered, in detail, by me while deciding W.P.No. 27236 of 1997 and by judgment dated 24th November 2009, I concluded the issue in the following manner: “ I have given my anxious consideration to the rival submissions. Though there was no statutory compulsion for the Corporation to absorb all the displaced personnel into its service, but however, one should not lose sight of the fact that whenever a privately operated bus route is nationalized by the State and it directs the buses belonging to the Corporation to ply on such routes, the Corporation invariably needs certain manpower to sustain and support such services. It is essential for the Corporation to have adequate number of drivers, conductors and cleaners, technical staff and other artisans, to keep their fleet going smoothly. It is, therefore, only appropriate that the services of the displaced personnel should be absorbed into its service, to enable it to carry on the operations without any hitch for want of availability of human resources immediately, but at the same time, the respondent-Corporation being a public sector undertaking cannot be fastened with the liability to maintain all such displaced personnel irrespective of the fact whether they are genuinely employed personnel by the private bus operator or not and without any regard being had by the Corporation for the requisite number of men for operating buses on such routes which stood nationalized. Optimum utilization of the available human resources is a factor which goes a long way in checking the overall expenditure, which the Corporation is liable to incur. The Corporation is established essentially to provide quality and comparatively cheaper modes of transport to the general public. The State Government lends a huge helping hand to the respondent-Corporation in many ways for enabling it to carry on its operations, but however, such grant of the State has go to be confined to certain limits. Consequently, every public sector undertaking must strive to ensure that its overall costs of operations are restricted to the optimum level and the available human resources are put to maximum efficiency, thus, controlling the overhead costs. Such measures would help the Corporation from operating its services within the parameters of its financial capacity. Keeping all these factors in mind, one had to rationally conclude that the Corporation would be perfectly legitimate in absorbing such number of displaced personnel only, as is optimally required by it. In this context, the spirit with which the learned Judges of the Division Bench has decided Writ Petition No. 5185 of 1987, has got to be kept in mind. The learned Judges have rightly directed the Corporation to maintain a list of the displaced persons and seek to absorb as many of them as is possible from out of such list before the Corporation could turn to the outside sources of recruitment i.e. from the open market. It would also be appropriate in this very context to note that as soon as the private bus service has been nationalized, the Corporation has taken out an advertisement in newspapers, inviting claims from the displaced personnel for their absorption. It has also been borne out by record that several employees of the private bus operators have also been absorbed. In fact, the learned Standing Counsel has also produced before me the list of 54 names of private bus operators’ displaced personnel who have been absorbed as Cleaners in Prakasam District. Since the writ petitioner has not responded to such a notification, his case was not considered for such absorption. I, therefore, do not find any justification to issue a writ of mandamus directing the Corporation to absorb the writ petitioner into its service forthwith. The writ petitioner had not turned up till 1995 for such absorption. If the Corporation has considered such of those personnel, who have turned up immediately for such absorption and accordingly absorbed them, into its service, no one can find fault with that, but going by the spirit with which the learned Judges of the Division Bench issued directions in Writ Petition No. 5186 of 1987, I consider it appropriate to direct the Corporation to include the name of the writ petitioner herein in the list of displaced personnel for Prakasam District and take up his case for consideration for appointment as a Cleaner as and when the Corporation next undertakes the recruitment of Cleaners from the open market or before it absorbs other displaced personnel in Prakasam District.” Therefore, following the above judgment, I consider it appropriate to direct the respondents-Corporation to include the names of the present writ petitioners in the list of displaced personnel of Nalgonda District and take up their cases for consideration for absorption in the service of the APSRTC as and when they next undertake the exercise of recruitment of Cleaners before filling up the said posts from the open market. In view of the fact that there are several other displaced employees of the private bus operators available in Nalgonda District, I make it imperative for the respondent-Corporation to prepare a panel for Nalgonda District and devise appropriate methods to maintain them taking into account and consideration the qualifications held respectively by the individuals and their ability for undertaking the job, depending upon the result of the trade test that is already conducted. The Writ Petitions stand disposed of. No costs. ---------------------------------- (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 14th December 2009 ksld