HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GODA RAGHURAM AND HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO W.P.NO.4716 OF 2010 Dated: 15.06.2010 Between: G.K.D.Narayana Yadav .. Petitioner And The Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education And others .. Respondents HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GODA RAGHURAM AND HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO W.P.NO.4716 OF 2010 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Goda Raghuram) The writ petitioner is the applicant in O.A.No.3483 of 2007 before the learned Andhra Pradesh Appellate Tribunal, Hyderabad seeking review of his case. 2. In substance, presenting a grievance that despite his option for absorption into the Collegiate Education Wing/Department, the respondents without considering the factum of his exercised option have considered and promoted one Mr M. Srinivasa Rao, a Junior Assistant in A.B.R. Government Degree College, Repalle, Guntur District to the post of Senior Assistant on the basis of a common seniority. 3. The petitioner has joined in service as Junior Assistant in a Degree College for Men, Kurnool in the year 1993. Thereafter, he was promoted as Senior Assistant and posted in a Government Junior College, Midutur, Kurnool District. The State Government issued G.O.Ms.No.12/HE(I.E.-1) Department, dated 06.02.2007 bifurcating the muffissil non teaching staff hitherto working in a combined unit of Government Decree Colleges and Government Junior Colleges in to separate units of the Government Degree Colleges and the Government Junior Colleges. The terms of the bifurcation was spelt out in G.O.Ms.No.12. This comprises the following principles: a) That the staff appointed/retired if any from 01.06.2005 to the date of issue of these orders shall be allocated to the department where they were appointed/retired. b) That the persons who have not submitted their options shall be deemed to have opted for continuance in the Department where they were working as on 01.06.2005 and they would be allotted to that Department accordingly. c) That if in any category of post the persons working in a Department have opted to the other Department, their cases shall be considered to the extent of vacancies existing in the same category in the other Department. However, if the net number of employees in any category of post opting to joint a particular Department is more than the vacancies available there, then the Department allocation of employees shall be made on the basis of Seniority in that category of post in both the Departments (as existing before bifurcation) irrespective of the options exercised by individual employees. d) That after allocation of the persons in the manner set out above cadre strength for each department/ post shall be fixed and the respective appointing authorities shall maintain separate seniority lists in respect of each department/post duly communicating the list to concerned employees. e) The allocation of Department shall be recorded in the Service Registers of the incumbents. 4. The petitioner prior to the cut off date i.e.01.06.2007 had exercised his option for continuing in the Collegiate Education Department, and therefore the bifurcation, is the common ground and the admitted factual scenario, could not be finalized till 2007 as the process of considering several options to the two newly created Departments, qua, the number of vacancies available in those two departments yet to be worked out and the process to be continued till 2007. In view of the principles set out in Clause (c) of G.O.Ms.No.12 (adverted to supra) neither the petitioner’s status as member of the collegiate department being crystallized nor the composition of the non teaching staff in the two departments could be finalized, in view of the on going process of working out the methodology of bifurcation. At this nebulous stage, in the process of the bifurcation, the vacancy of Senior Assistant had arisen in a Government Decree College and Mr M. Srinivasa Rao, a Junior Assistant working in the Decree College in Repelly, Guntur District rightly claimed that he should be considered for promotion as Senior Assistant on the basis of a common Seniority (common in the context of the Government Degree Colleges and the Government Junior Colleges). Since the process of bifurcation had not culminated till 2007 and after Srinivasa Rao’s application, the Commissioner of Collegiate Education acceded to the request of Mr. Srinivasa Rao and granted him promotion as Senior Assistant to a vacancy in the said post, which had arisen after the policy decision to bifurcate had been taken in G.O.Ms.No.12, dated 06.02.2007. 5. The core of the petitioner’s grievance is that since the policy decision to bifurcate Government Degree Colleges and the Government Junior Colleges had been taken in G.O.Ms.No.12 Higher Education (IE.I Department, Dated 06.02.2007 and the petitioner had exercised his option in Government Degree Colleges by 01.06.2005, no common seniority of non teaching staff working in Government Decree Colleges and the Government Junior Colleges could have been operated after G.O.Ms.No.12 or at any rate, after 01.06.2005 and as a corollary in a vacancy of Senior Assistant arising after 01.06.2005, at any rate, only those persons who had opted for Government Degree Colleges could have been considered for appointment as Senior Assistant in a Government Degree College. While such an annunciation of a principle would certainly benefit the petitioner, it operates neither with the operational realities of the bifurcation nor with any rationale administrative law principles. The decision in G.O. Ms. No.12 was a mere in principle decision of the State to bifurcate the Government Degree Colleges and the Government Junior Colleges insofar as non teaching staff is concerned. The process of bifurcation is involved, the receipt of options and the allocations to be made depending upon the number of vacancies available in each of the two units of Degree and Junior colleges, qua, the number of options received for the two newly to be created departments. Till such process is concluded and the number of optees is adjusted in accordance with the availability of vacancies in the two departments, the bifurcation could not be said to have been completed and till the completion of the bifurcation an operational reality is of a common cadre. M. Srinivasa Rao’s application was therefore, perfectly legitimate and the action of the Commissioner of Collegiate Education acceding to such a request is also conduct that is not stricken with a vice of illegality warranting interference by the learned Tribunal in accordance with the discretion available under Section 15 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985. 6. For the reasons alike, the petitioner is not entitled to any relief under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 7. The writ petition is bereft and accordingly it is dismissed. No costs. _____________________ GODA RAGHURAM,J Dated: 15.06.2010 ___________________ R.KANTHA RAO,J kvrm/ccm HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GODA RAGHURAM AND HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE R.KANTHA RAO W.P.NO.4716 OF 2010 Dated: 15.06.2010