IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE R.SUBHASH REDDY WRIT PETITION No: 21596 of 1999 Between: D. Rama Krishna S/o Venkataratnam Depot Manager's Office, Governorpet II Depot, A.P.S.R.T.C., Vijayawada. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 A.P.S.R.T.C., rep. by it's Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Musheerabad, Hyderabad 2 Regional Manager, A.P.S.R.T.C., Vijayawada Region, Vijayawada. 3 Senior Manager, (Personal), A.P.S.R.T.C., Vijayawada. 4 Depot Manager, Governorpet II Depot, A.P.S.R.T.C., Vijayawada. .....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 an appropriate Writ, Order or direction particularly one in the nature of Writ of Certiorari calling for the records pertaining to the proceedings of the 4th respondent in Oﬃce Order No. E2/30(1)/99-GVPT-II, dated 22nd June, 1999 and quash the same as illegal, arbitrary and violative of the Constitution of India, apart from the APSRTC Regulations, etc., allow the Writ Petition with costs and pass. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.P.RAVI Counsel for the Respondent No.: C.PRAKASH REDDY(SC FOR APSRTC) The Court made the following : ORDER: Petitioner, who was working as a Junior Assistant in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Vijayawada (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Corporation’), has questioned the order dated 22-06-1999 passed in Oﬃce Order No.E2/30(1)/99-GVPT-II by which his pay was revised on the ground that it was wrongly ﬁxed earlier and an order of recovery of Rs.4,500/- was also made. Though the writ petition is of 1999, no counter aﬃdavit is filed till date. The petitioner was initially appointed on 01-01-1976 as a non-technical Maistry in the oﬃce of the Executive Engineer, Civil Engineering Department, Vijayawada belonging to the respondent-Corporation and subsequently he was selected and appointed as cleaner on 06-09-1978 and worked as such till 08-04-1980 and later he was promoted as Conductor on 09-04-1980. It is further submitted that subsequently he was selected and appointed by transfer as Junior Assistant as per the Oﬃce Order No.E4/331(4) 90- RM/VJA, dated 01-02-1993 with eﬀect from 23-01-1992. It is also stated that as he put up more than nine months of service as Conductor, after the drawal of last increment in April, 1991 till the date of promotion as Junior Assistant, his pay was protected and accordingly his pay was fixed in the pay scale of Rs.1560+45+8 and was given annual increment in April, 1992 raising the pay from Rs.1560/- to Rs.1605/-. But, however, the impugned order was passed by the Depot Manager with reference to some objections in the Audit Report dated 08-04- 1999. A perusal of the impugned order makes it clear that there is no indication of issuing of any prior notice and giving an opportunity to the petitioner in ordering reﬁxation of pay as well as recovery. Even assuming that there are various objections from the Audit department, when once the respondent-Corporation comes to conclusion that the pay was wrongly ﬁxed, it was to be rectiﬁed only after giving prior opportunity to the petitioner. Since no counter aﬃdavit is ﬁled and since there is no indication of prior notice to the petitioner before passing the impugned order, I deem it appropriate to set aside the proceedings No.E2/30(1)/99-GVPT-II dated 22-06-1999 so far as the petitioner is concerned. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order is set aside to the extent indicated above. However, it is made clear that if his pay is wrongly ﬁxed and any amount is to be recovered, it is always open to the respondent-Corporation to pass appropriate orders, after calling for explanation and giving an opportunity to the petitioner. No order as to costs. ----------------------------- R.SUBHASH REDDY, J 9th September 2008 CVRK ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies