IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.967 of 2009 Between: Vepakomma Srinivasa Rao, S/o. Late Sri Achut Rao, R/o. 1-3-373, Malaviya Nagar, Gudur, nelloe District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Yathaluru PACS, President, yathaluru Venkatagiri Mandal, Nellore District. 2 District Collector, Nellore District. 3 Joint Registrar/ District Cooperative Officer, Nellore District. 4 Divisional Cooperative Officer/Deputy Registrar of Coop-so Gudur, Nellore District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner:SMT.KALPANA EKBOTE Counsel for Respondent Nos.2 to 4: AGP FOR COOPERATION The Court made the following : ORDER: Though notice was served on respondent No.1, there is no appearance on its behalf. Heard Smt.Kalpana Ekbote, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Cooperation for respondent Nos.2 to 4. The petitioner, who was appointed as Clerk of Budanam Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society in 1992, was transferred as Secretary of respondent No.1 society by the Collector’s proceedings, dated 30.11.1989. The petitioner worked in the said society till March, 2002. Certain proceedings were initiated against the petitioner for his alleged misappropriation of funds. Respondent No.4, who was appointed as enquiry officer to hold enquiry into the allegations against the petitioner, eventually exonerated the petitioner from all the allegations of misappropriation vide his proceedings bearing R.C.No.350/ 2007-B, dated 17.11.2008. The petitioner has made repeated representations to respondent No.1 to pay him the arrears of salary from 01.05.1999 to 31.03.2002. As his requests were not heeded to by respondent No.1, he approached respondent No.3 with a representation on 13.10.2008. Acting on the said representation, respondent No.3 issued proceedings bearing R.C.No.3929/2007/C, dated 06.11.2008 directing respondent No.1 to pay salaries to the petitioner immediately for the above-mentioned period. It is relevant to extract the contents of the above said proceedings hereunder. “As per the reference No.1, Sri V.Srinivasa Rao, Secretary and reference Nos.2 and 3 being the directions of the Commissioner and Registrar, it is seen that the arrears of salaries from May’99 to March’2002 is yet to be paid to the Petitioner by your Society. You are aware that as per the reference No.4 above, you were directed to pay the arrears of salaries immediately by Divisional Cooperative Officer, Gudur. It is further seen as per reference No.5 that the petitioner has again requested you to pay the arrears of salaries as per the directions under reference No.4. You are well aware, it is the primary responsibility of the employer to pay the salaries to the employee. In case the same is not paid, you will be liable for consequences under law, since it is the employer alone who is responsible to pay the salary. Hence to ensure that no legal problem arises, you are directed to pay the salary to Secretary, Sri V.Srinivasa Rao for the period 5/99 to 3/02 immediately.” Despite the said proceedings, respondent No.1 has not paid the arrears of salary to the petitioner. Therefore, he approached this Court by way of present writ petition. I have perused the record, which clearly supports the plea of the petitioner that he was exonerated by respondent No.4 vide his surcharge proceedings, dated 17.11.2008. Respondent No.1, who acknowledged notice from the petitioner, neither entered appearance nor filed any counter-affidavit controverting the averments contained in the affidavit. Therefore, it is reasonable to presume that the salaries are due to the petitioner from respondent No.1 for the period from 01.05.1999 to 31.03.2002 and he is entitled to receive the same. The claim of the petitioner is fortified by the above-reproduced contents of the proceedings issued by respondent No.3. For the above-mentioned reasons, the writ petition is allowed. Respondent No.1 is directed to pay the arrears of salary from 01.05.1999 to 31.03.2002 to the petitioner, within a period of four (4) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J 23rd APRIL, 2009. Note: issue c.c. in one week. kvni