IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SECOND DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE K.C. BHANU WRIT PETITION NO : 25439 of 2002 Between: 1 R. Appa Rao S/o Chinnayya watchman under the control of the District Manager, A.P., State Housing Corporation Ltd., Srikakulam 2 P. Prasada Rao s/o Kanna Raju Srikakulam 3 B. Koteswar Rao S/o narsaiah Srikakulam 4 N. Ramachandra S/o Kurmayya Srikakulam 5 M. Srinivasa Rao S/o Ratnam Srikakulam 6 S. Ram Babu s/o Antha Rao Srikakulam 7 Cheedi Srinivasa Rao s/o late Asiri Naidu Srikakulam 8 P. Srinivasa Rao s/o Ram Murthy working under the control of The District Manager (Housing) A.P.S.H. C. Ltd., Vizianagaram 9 B. Srinivasa Rao S/o Sunder Rao, Vizianagaram 10 R. Satyanarayana s/o Veera Raju Vizianagaram 11 G. Appa Rao s/o Thatha Vizianagaram 12 N. Ramulu s/o late Polesh Vizianagaram 13 M. Adinarayana s/o poliraidu Vizianagaram 14 M. Sambamurthy s/o Swamy naidu, Vizianagaram. 15 G. Vijaya Kumar s/o Sanjeeva Rao Vizianagaram 16 M.P. Nagabhushana Rao s/o Bhaskara Rao Vizianagaram 17 T. Ramana Murthy s/o Satyanarayana Vizianagaram 18 K. Appala Naidu s/o Simhachalam Watchmen under the control of Dist. Manager, APSHC L. Visakhapatnam 19 S. Konda s/o Konda 20 G. Devarayalu s/o Arlayya 21 M. Appala Naidu s/o Bosegu, 22 P. Durga prasad s/o Siddaiah 23 P. Rama Rao s/o Sanyasi 24 J. Babu Rao S/o Narsimha Rao 25 K. Naga Raju s/o Ramappa watchmen Under the control of Dist. Manager(Housing) Ananthapur 26 K. Narsimkhulu s/o Laxmaiah 27 K. Ramanjaneyulu s/o Laxmaiah 28 P. Ratnamaiah s/o P.V. Guravaiah 29 B. Ramanjaneyulu 30 B. Krishnaiah S/o Yadagiri Watchmen unther the control of Dist. Manager (Housing) APSHCL, Nalgonda 31 Syed Sarvar, 32 A. Chandramouli s/o Ramulu 33 Ch. Laxmaiah s/o Iddaiah 34 Sk. Chand Pasha s/o Babumiya 35 N. Satyanarayana S/o Esthri 36 P. Saidulu@ SaiDaiah s/o Balaiah 37 S. Sarvaiah s/o Oshaiah 38 B. papaiah s/o Adavaiah Working as Watchmen under the control of the District Manager, APSHC Ltd., Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy District 39 G. Nagesh S/o Anthaiah 40 C. Mallaiah s/o balaiah 41 M. Narasimhulu Isvuaiah 42 A. Maraiah S/o Ushaiah 43 V. Narayana S/o Pochaiah 44 G. Manikya Rao S/o Girappa, 45 U. Narendra S/o Balram, 46 P. Laxmaiah s/o Jangaiah working as Watchmen under the control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, Mahabubnagar 47 Syed Naimuddin s/o Khader 48 G. Kashanna s/o Gatraidu 49 P. Laxminarayana S/o Narasiah, working as Watchman unde the Control of District Manager(H) APSECL., Warangal 50 R. Laxman s/o Chinnaiah working in Nizamabad under control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, Nizamabad 51 A. Naresh S/o Narasimhulu 52 S. Venkata Rao S/o Somanna Working as Attenders Watchmen, under the control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, East Godavari District 53 V. Venkataramana S/o Appa RaoMallaiah East Godavari District 54 J. Venkateswarlu Working as Attenders Watchmen, under the control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, Khammam 55 p. Sampath S/o Venkati Khammam 56 Mohd. Iqbal s/o Afzal, Khammam 57 T. biralu s/o Bikya Working as Attenders Watchmen, under the control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, Khammam 58 P. Gandhi s/o Kotaiah Working as Attenders Watchmen, under the control of District Manager(H) APSHCL, Khammam 59 G. Hanumanthu s/o Narsaiah Khammam ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Principal Secretary, The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Housing dept., 2 The Secretary, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Finance & planning 3 The Managing Director, A.P State Housing Corporation Ltd., 4 The District Collector (Housing) Srikakulam 5 The District Manager(H), A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 6 The District Collector (Housing) Vizianagaram 7 The District Manager A.P. State Housing corporation Ltd., Vizianagaram 8 The District Collector (Housing) Visakhapatnam 9 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., Visakhapatnem 10 The District Collector (Housing) Anantapur 11 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 12 The District Collector (Housing) Nalgonda 13 The District Manager, AP., State Housing Corporation Ltd., 14 The District Collector (Housing Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy District 15 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 16 The District Collector(Housing) Mahabubnagar 17 The District Manager, A.P., Housing Corporation Ltd., 18 The District Collector (Housing) Warangal 19 The District Manager, AP. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 20 The District Collector (Housing) Nizamabad 21 The District Manager, AP State Housing Corporation Ltd., Nizamabad 22 The District Collector (Housing) East Godavari District 23 The District Manager, AP State Housing corporation Ltd., 24 The District Collector (Housing)Khammam 25 The District manager, AP State Housing Corporation Ltd., Khammam .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to issue Writ order or direction more in the nature of Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 3 herein to sanction godown watchmen posts to regularise the services of the petitioner by Setting aside the impugned Letter No. A8/(2)/3921/2002, dt 30-9-2002 of the 3rd respondent by holding that the godown watchmen post to be sanctioned for regularisation of the services of the petitioners and with a direction that they are entitled for regular scale of pay on par with similarly situated persons as per the 3rd respondent’s Memo No. A1/4659/2001, dated 11-7-2001 with effect from 1-4-99 with all consequential arrears by holding that the action of the respondents in not sanctioning the godown watchmen posts and not allowing minimum regular scale of pay to the petitioners as illegal, arbitrary discriminatory, being violative of Art, 14, 16 and 21 of the constitution of India. Counsel for the Petitioner :M/S CHINNA BABA,SRIKALA K Counsel for the Respondents: G.P. for Housing The Court made the following : The Hon’ble Sri Justice K.C. Bhanu W.P. No. 25439 of 2002 O R D E R: This writ petition is filed seeking a writ of Mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 3 herein to sanction godown watchmen posts to regularise the services of the petitioner by setting aside the impugned Letter No. AS/(2)/3921/2000, dt 30-9-2002 of the 3rd respondent by holding that the godown watchmen post to be sanctioned for regularisation of the services of the petitioners and with a direction that they are entitled for regular scale of pay on par with similarly situated persons as per the 3rd respondent’s Memo No. A1/4659/2001, dated 11-7-2001 with effect from 1-4-1999 with all consequential arrears by holding that the action of the respondents in not sanctioning the godown watchmen posts and not allowing minimum regular scale of pay to the petitioners as illegal and arbitrary. Several contentions have been raised in this writ petition. A detailed counter affidavit has been filed by the 3rd respondent. Learned counsel for the petitioners brought to the notice of this court the proceedings of the 3rd respondent dated 15.3.2003 in Lr.No.A8(2)/1172/04 dated 15.3.2005 addressed to the Secretary to the Government wherein the 3rd respondent requested the Government that the services of the Godown watchmen are highly essential to look after the cement godowns. Further it is submitted that the approval of the Board is essential for submitting the proposal for submitting the proposal to the Government for sanction and regularization of Godown Watchmen posts. It is also brought to the notice of this court by the learned standing counsel for the 3rd respondent that the Board has already passed resolution requesting the Government for the creation of posts and it is for the 1st and 2nd respondents to take appropriate decision for creation of posts. Having regard to the facts and circumstances, without entering into the merits of the case the writ petition is disposed of directing the 1st and 2nd respondents to take appropriate decision on the resolution passed by the 3rd respondent in accordance with law within a period of six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. _______________ K.C. Bhanu, J. Date: 22—06—2005. MVB. ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The Principal Secretary, The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Housing dept. 2 The Secretary, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Finance & planning 3 The Managing Director, A.P State Housing Corporation Ltd., 4 The District Collector (Housing) Srikakulam 5 The District Manager(H), A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 6 The District Collector (Housing) Vizianagaram 7 The District Manager A.P. State Housing corporation Ltd., Vizianagaram 8 The District Collector (Housing) Visakhapatnam 9 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., Visakhapatnem 10 The District Collector (Housing) Anantapur 11 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 12 The District Collector (Housing) Nalgonda 13 The District Manager, AP., State Housing Corporation Ltd., 14 The District Collector (Housing Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy District 15 The District Manager, A.P. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 16 The District Collector(Housing) Mahabubnagar 17 The District Manager, A.P., Housing Corporation Ltd., 18 The District Collector (Housing) Warangal 19 The District Manager, AP. State Housing Corporation Ltd., 20 The District Collector (Housing) Nizamabad 21 The District Manager, AP State Housing Corporation Ltd., Nizamabad 22 The District Collector (Housing) East Godavari District 23 The District Manager, AP State Housing corporation Ltd., 24 The District Collector (Housing)Khammam 25 The District manager, AP State Housing Corporation Ltd., Khammam 26. Two C.Cs. to the G.P. for Housing, High Court Buildings, Hyderabad (OUT). 27. Two C.D. copies.