IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE SEVENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 24344 of 2008 Between: The Govt. of A.P. Rep by its Secretary to Govt., General Administration Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Smt. Jahangir Bee, O/o. A.P. Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad 2 The Registrar, A.P. Administrative Tribunal, 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 Certiorari" calling for the records relating to the orders of the Hon'ble A.P. Admn. Tribunal, Hyderabad, passed in OA No. 3679/1998 dated 28-11-2007 as being erroneous, illegal and unreasonable and quash the same. Counsel for the Petitioner: GP FOR SERVICES II Counsel for the Respondents: ….. The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 24344 of 2008 ORAL ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri. Justice Ghulam Mohammed) This writ petition is filed challenging the order of the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, dated 28.11.2007 passed in O.A.No.3679 of 1998. The 1st respondent herein is the applicant before the Tribunal. She filed the above O.A., seeking a direction to the respondents to regularize her services in any one of the suitable post with all consequential benefits, arrears of pay in terms of G.O.Ms.No.212, dated 22.4.1994 and G.O.(P) No.112, dated 23.7.1997. The Tribunal having relied upon the law laid down by the Apex Court in U.P. State Electricity Board Vs. Pooran Chandra Pandey & Others[1] disposed of the O.A. directing the respondents specifically the Government to pass appropriate orders on regularization of the applicant, in the light of the observations of the Apex Court in the above cited decision, within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order and pay all consequential benefits through the 2nd respondent. Having aggrieved by the same, the Government of A.P. rep., by its Secretary, General Administration Department, Secretariat, filed the present writ petition. Heard the learned Government Pleader and perused the material available on record. Before going to deal with the case on hand, it is relevant to note the brief facts of the case of the applicant: The applicant was appointed as part time menial on 14.2.1983 on a consolidated pay of Rs.75/- in the A.P. Administrative Tribunal and subsequently, she was appointed as full time menial w.e.f. 1.3.1992 and her pay was fixed at Rs.261/- plus usual allowances and subsequently, the Apex Court vide orders in W.P.No. (Civil) 210 of 1992, directed the authorities to pay Rs.1,000/- p.m. with effect from 31.10.1989 till further orders while making it clear that the said order does not preclude the State Government to consider the regularization of the services of the applicant and in that event, she would be entitled to the salary due in that service in substitution of the salary fixed by it. In pursuance of the directions of the Apex Court, she is being paid a sum of Rs.1,000/- from 1.2.1989. But, in spite of several representations, her services have not been regularized. Hence, the applicant approached the Tribunal. On the other hand, it is the case of the 2nd respondent-Registrar, A.P. Administrative Tribunal, that on a letter addressed to the Government seeking clarification as to whether the applicant may be given minimum time scale in the Last grade service on completion of 5 years of service, the Government vide its letter, dated 21.6.1997 informed that the benefit sought by the applicant cannot be given without regularization. The order under challenge goes to show that the 2nd respondent herein did not state as to the orders, if any, passed by the Government insofar as the regularization of the services of the applicant is concerned. In this regard, it is relevant to extract the requisite conditions to be fulfilled under G.O.Ms.No.212 Finance & Planning (FW.PC.III) Department dated 22.4.1994. According to the said G.O., the services of persons, appointed on Daily wage/NMR or on consolidated pay who are continuing as on 25th November, 1993 having completed a continuous minimum period of five years of services on or before 25.11.1993, shall be regularized in substantive vacancies by the appointing authorities subject to the fulfillment of the following conditions: (1) The persons appointed should possess the qualifications prescribed as per rules in force as on the date from which his/her services have to be regularized; (2) They should be within the age limits as on the date of appointment as NMR/Daily wage employees; (3) The rule of reservations wherever applicable will be followed and backlog will be set off against future vacancies. (4) Sponsoring of candidates from Employment Exchange is relaxed. (5) Absorption shall be against clear vacancies of posts considered necessary to be continued as per workload excluding the vacancies already notified to the APPSC/District Selection Committee. (6) In the case of work charged establishment where there will be no clear vacancies, because of fact that the expenditure on work charge is at a fixed percentage of P.S. charges and as soon as the work is over, the services of work charged Establishment will have to be terminated, they shall be adjudicated in other departments, District Offices, provided there are clear vacancies of Last Grade Service. At this stage, it is contended by the learned G.P. that the scheme framed by the Government under G.O.Ms.No:212, contemplates that the services of the persons appointed on daily wages or on consolidated pay, who are continuing as on 25th November, 1993 by completing a continuous minimum period of 5 years of service on or before 25.11.1993 shall be regularized subject to the fulfillment of conditions mentioned therein. It is further contended that the applicant does not fulfill the conditions mentioned in the G.O. and apart from that, she has not possessed the minimum qualification as prescribed under the A.P. Last Grade Service Rules and the same cannot be relaxed. Therefore, the order of the Tribunal is liable to be set aside. As can be seen from the material available on record, it has to be noted that in addition to above G.O., the law laid down by the Apex Court in the citation supra, is very significant to adjudicate a case of this nature. In the instant case, the applicant has been working since 14.2.1983. By now, the applicant has put in 25 years of service. The claim of the petitioner is only to extend the benefit of G.O.Ms.No.212 and if that being the case, the question of qualification, nearly after rendering services for a period of 25 years, does not arise. In these circumstances, the benefit of regularization cannot be denied in view of the observations made by the Apex Court in the above citation. Therefore, the Tribunal is justified in giving such a direction to the respondents to pass appropriate orders on regularization of the applicant. Accordingly, the present writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs. __________________________ Justice Ghulam Mohammed ________________________ Justice G. Bhavani Prasad Date: 7.11.2008 Gurc THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE G.BHAVANI PRASAD WRIT PETITION NO : 24344 of 2008 (Order delivered by Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) 07.11.2008 [1] 2007(1) Decisions Today (SC) 872