IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 1249 of 2008 Between: 1 B. Sailaja W/o Not Known O/o General Manager (services) APNPDCL., Warangal. 2 P. Vijaya Lakshmi W/o Ramesh O/o General Manager (Industrial Relations) APNPDCL., Warangal. 3 J. Tirupathi S/o Kanakaiah O/o Chief General manager (Expenditure) APNPDCL., Warangal. 4 A.G. Gopi Krishna S/o Govindaraju O/o Chief Vigilance Officer, APNPDCL, Warangal. 5 B. Chandraiah S/o Not Known O/o General manager (Services) APNPDCL., Warangal. 6 Naini Renuka, S/o Not Known O/o Chief General manager (Espenditure) APNPDCL., Warangal. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1. The Andhra Pradesh Northern Power Distribution Company Ltd., Warangal, rep by its The Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Northern Power Distribution Company Ltd., Warangal. 2. The Andhra Pradesh Northern Power Distribution Company Ltd., Warangal, rep by its Chief General manager (HRD) Andhra Pradesh Northern Power Distribution Company Ltd., Warangal. 3 The Andhra Pradesh Transco., rep by its Chairman and Managing Director, Vidyut Soudha, Khairatabad, 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 an appropriate Writ, order or direction, one more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus. a) to declare the impugned proceedings issued in N.O.O. (CGM-HRD.,) Ms. No. 301 dt 19-01-2008 of the Respondent No.1 to the extent of Effecting the Promotional rights of the petitioners as bad illegal, arbitrary and contrary to law and Rules. b) and consequentially direct the Respondents to promote the petitioners to the post of JPO on par with other Juniors as per the Seniority list dt 10-01-2008 without insisting the passing of the Department test C) and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.N.USHA KIRAN Counsel for the Respondents: P.R.BALARAMI REDDY(SC FOR AP TRANSCO) The Court made the following : ORDER: The petitioners were selected and appointed as Assistants-cum-Computer Operators, on 31.02.2002. Their contracts were extended from time to time, and ultimately, in the year 2005, their services were regularized under Category 4 (A), in the pay scale of Rs.4740-8765 with effect from 14.07.2005, by the first respondent company. Subsequently, the respondents published a provisional list of seniority and thereafter, a final list. The petitioners figured at Sl.Nos.1, 2, 6, 10, 11 and 16, in those lists. The promotion from category 4(A) is to category 2 i.e., Assistants (Junior Personnel Officer). The eligibility for promotion to that category is prescribed as pass in Accounts Test for Subordinate Officers Part-I and Acts and Regulations Test; and minimum service of five years in the feeder cadre. The respondents issued a Notification in N.O.O(C.G.M- H.R.D.)Ms.No.301, dated 19.01.2008, providing for computation of the contract service/training period of certain feeder cadres, towards length of service in the context of promotion. This measure is said to have been taken on account of non-availability of qualified candidates, in the feeder cadres. The petitioners challenge the said proceedings, insofar as it relates to the post of Junior Personnel Officer. It is urged that the seniority and the promotional avenues of the petitioners are adversely affected on account of such an ad hoc measure. It is stated that all of them have appeared in the qualifying examinations and the results are awaited. Respondents filed a counter-affidavit stating that the petitioners cannot object the impugned order since they do not have any vested right for promotion, particularly, when they are not qualified on any count, as of now. Other contentions are also urged. Smt. Usha Kiran, learned counsel for the petitioners, submits that the petitioners have acquired seniority, as is evident from the final seniority list, and on account of the relaxation of eligibility criteria, several employees, who are juniors to the petitioners, are likely to acquire promotions much before the petitions, contrary to the seniority list. She contends that though the petitioners are also eligible for the benefit of relaxation, they are handicapped from being promoted on account of the fact that the results, for the qualifying departmental tests, are yet to be announced. Sri P.R.Balarami Reddy, learned counsel for the respondents, submits that the extraordinary step was resorted to, on account of the lack of qualified candidates and that the petitioners cannot be said to have suffered in any way. As of now, the petitioners are occupying fairly senior positions in the cadre of Assistants–cum-computer operators. The qualification of a person belonging to that category, for being promoted to the post of Junior Personnel Officer in Category 2 is prescribed as under: “By promotion of Junior Assistants/Junior Assistant-cum- Computer Operators/Typists/Steno-typists in the Personnel and General services, who are graduates, must have passed the Accounts test for Subordinate Officers Part I and the Acts and Regulations test with 5 years of minimum service as Junior Assistant/Junior Assistant-cum-Computer Operators/Typist/Steno-typist.” From a perusal of the same, it is evident that it is only on completion of five years, that a candidate shall be eligible to be promoted as Junior Personnel Officer, of course, if he had passed the departmental tests. The appointment of the petitioners on regular posts was with effect from 14.07.2005, and almost the same is the case with the other employees in that cadre. The period, for which, the employee worked on contract basis, was not included in the length of service. On account of appointment of the various persons on contract basis for the past several years, the required number of incumbents in various cadres and the required number of candidates for promotion to the next higher cadre were not available. Faced with this situation, the respondents have decided to treat the period during which the employees worked on contract basis, or the training period, as the case may be, as holding good for computation of the length of service. Neither the qualifications nor the minimum length of service were relaxed. In fact, the petitioners also would be entitled for that benefit. Had they held the other qualifications, they would have been in the forefront, in the list of promoted candidates. However, they are yet to clear the departmental tests. Strictly speaking, the petitioners cannot complain about the decision taken by the respondents. The reason is that as of now, they do not have any right even to be considered for promotion against the existing vacancies. On their part, the respondents restricted the benefit of contractual service, to the posts that are available as on 31.12.2007. In the usual course, the petitioners have to wait for two more years to be considered for promotion assuming that they are otherwise eligible. The respondents cannot be made to suffer due to dearth of incumbents, to handle the important posts. The only protection that can be accorded to the petitioners is that the benefit of computation of the contractual service be extended to them, if needed, by the time the promotion to the vacancies that arose subsequent to 31.12.2007, takes place. The reason is that on account of the present arrangement, they are deprived of the benefit of their seniority. For the foregoing reasons, the Writ Petition is disposed of, directing that the benefit provided for under the impugned notification i.e., N.O.O.(C.G.M-H.R.D.)Ms.No.301, dated 9.01.2008, shall enure to the petitioners also, if needed as and when the respondents undertake promotions to the posts of Assistants-cum-Junior Personnel Officers vis-à-vis the vacancies that arise subsequent to 31.12.2007. This arrangement shall be confined only to the petitioners, but not to others. _____________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY, J Dated:17.03.2008 Note: Issue CC in three days. (Bo) sj ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRT}