THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO.20019 OF 1995 DATED: 23-01-2007 Between: The Depot Manager, APSRTC, Tenali Depot, Guntur District. .. Petitioner and The Government of Andhra Pradesh represented by its Secretary, Labour Department and others. .. Respondents THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO.20019 OF 1995 ORDER: This writ petition is ﬁled seeking a certiorari to call for the records relating to the award passed by the 2nd respondent in I.D.No.116/90 dated 25.01.1995 on the ﬁle of the Labour Court at Guntur and quash the same as arbitrary and illegal. The petitioner is the Management of the A.P. State Road Transport Corporation (for short ‘APSRTC’). The 3rd respondent is the workman. The 3rd respondent, through APSRTC Employees Union, raised a dispute about the punishment imposed on him by the petitioner and the same was referred to Labour Court, Guntur by Government through G.O.Rt.No.861 dated 23.03.1990 for adjudication of the following issue: “Whether the Depot Manager, Tenali A.P.S.R.T.C. is justiﬁed in imposing the punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative eﬀect on Sri S.M.Vali? If not, to what relief?” Before the Labour Court, no oral or documentary evidence was adduced on either side. However, the Labour Court found that the punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative eﬀect was imposed without conducting any regular enquiry and, therefore, held that the imposing of such punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative eﬀect on the workman is not justiﬁed and thus answered the reference in favour of the workman. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petition is ﬁled by the Management. There is no necessity of going into all the details. It is an admitted fact that the punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative eﬀect was imposed on the 3rd respondent-workman without conducting any regular enquiry. Stoppage of increment with cumulative eﬀect is a major punishment. Therefore, conducting a detailed enquiry into the matter is very essential. No such course of action was adopted in the instant case. Therefore, the Labour Court came to the conclusion that the Management is not justiﬁed in imposing punishment of stoppage of one annual increment with cumulative eﬀect, without conducting any enquiry. The said ﬁnding of the Labour Court cannot be said to be either arbitrary or illegal. Therefore, the writ petition is devoid of merits and is liable to be dismissed. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. ____​__________ C.V. RAMULU, J 23rd January 2007. IBL