THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.11252 of 1998 Dated 25-04-2007 Between: V.Srinivas Reddy & others. ..... PETITIONERS AND Govt. of A.P. rep. By its Principal Secretary, Higher Education Dept. Secretariat Hyderabad & others. .....RESPONDENTS THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.11252 of 1998 O R D E R: Petitioners are the lecturers working in Government Colleges. The relief sought for in this writ petition is for a declaration that the lecturers working in the Government Junior/Degree/Composite Colleges are entitled to count their service in the category of Junior lecturers for the purpose of reckoning the period of 8 or 16 years of service as lecturers to be eligible for grant of Senior and Selection Grade under the Career Advancement Scheme. In view of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in L.Chandra Kumar v. Union of India[1], the petitioners ought to have approached the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal in the first instance before the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India could have been invoked. Since the petitioners had approached this Court without invoking the jurisdiction of the Tribunal in the first instance, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed. Needless to state that this order shall not preclude the petitioners from approaching the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal for the relief sought for in this writ petition. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. ______________ 25-04-2007 usd [1] AIR 1997 SC 1125