IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 17793 of 2000 Between: 1 Vadlamudi Venkateswara Rao, S/o. Satyanarayana Murthy, R/o. B. Doddaram, Mamidikuduru Mandal, East Godavari District. 2 Vanga Venkata Lavakumarudu, S/o. Satyanarayana Murthy, R/o. Ch. Gunnepalli, Mummidivaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 3 Vanumu Naga Malleswara Rao, S/o. Srinivasa Rao, Penumalla and Laxmivada, Katreneikona Mandal, East Godavari District. 4 Sarella Satyanarayana, S/o. Late Veeraiah, R/o. Chintana Lanka, Inavilli Mandal, East Godavari District. 5 Puludundi George, S/o. Late Satyam, R/o. Nallacheruvu and Pedapalem, Inavilli Mandal, East Godavari District. 6 Dangeti Srinivasa Rajendra Phani Kumar, S/o. Subba Rao, R/o. Edarapalli, Amalapuaram Rural Mandal, East Godavari District. 7 Kadali Gangadhara Rao, S/o. Venkanna R/o. Sakuru and Gunnepalli, Amalapuram Rural Mandal, East Godavari District. 8 Sathi Satyanarayana, S/o. Sri Ramam, R/o. Samanasa and Savarapupalem, Amalapuram Rural Mandal, East Godavari District. 9 Gedala Ramachandra Rao, S/o. Venkata Narsimham, R/o. Gondi, Sakhinetipalli Mandal, East Godavari District. 10 Rajulapudi Suresh Babu, S/o. Late Surya Prakasha Rao, R/o. Kamana Garuvu, Amalapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 11 Bonthu Chandra Rao, R/o. S. Mulapalem, Inavalli Mandal, East Godavari District. 12 Sira Mohan Rao, S/o. Late Narasimha Murthy, R/o. Gudapalli, Malkipuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 13 Kasi Sri Ramakrishna, S/o. Late Sri Maridi, R/o. Kundaleswaram and Nadavapalli, Katrenikona Mandal, East Godavari District. 14 Sundara Narayana Rao, S/o. late Sri Ramanna, R/o. Turpupalem, Malkipuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 15 Nagavarapu Veera Venkata Satyanarayana, S/o. Verraiah, R/o. Rellugadda and Turpulanka, Allavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 16 Kalagata Bapuji, S/o. Late Venkata Reddy, R/o. Samanthikurru, Allavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 17 Chikkam Sadguru Vara Prasada Rao, S/o. Swamynaidu, R/o. Gangalakurru Agraharam, Ambaji Pet Mandal, East Godavari District. 18 Nalla Veerabhadram, S/o. Chandra rao, R/o. Gopavaram and Saripalli, Uppalaguptam Mandal, East Godavari District. 19 Cherukuri Seshagiri rao, S/o. Venkata Rao, R/o. Bantumalli and Uppudi, Katrenikona Mandal, East Godavari District. 20 Samanasa Venkata Ramana, S/o. Surya Rao, R/o. Addampalli, Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 21 Vasamsetty Satyanarayana, S/o. Suryanarayana, R/o. Kedara Lanka, Kapileswarapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 22 Kota Surya Prakash, S/o. Peda Venkatesh, R/o. Sivala, Gangavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 23 Syed Amir John, S/o. Syed Rahamatulla, R/o. Atchutapuram, Kapileswarapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 24 Vastrala Ramana, S/o. Krishna Murthy, R/o. Anuru, Pedapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 25 Yavarna Perraju, S/o. Late Sathiraju, R/o. Hussinpuram, Samalkot Mandal, East Godavari District. 26 Kasimedala Laxmana Rao, S/o. Late Suri Babu, R/o. Kapavaram, Biccavole Mandal, East Godavari District. 27 Mogilla Ramakrishna, S/o. Venkata Raju, R/o. Tirupathi, Peddapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 28 Somina Venkata Rama Prasad, S/o. Venkata Raju, R/o A. Kothapalli, Thodangi Mandal, East Godavari District. 29 Shaik Sattar, S/o. Meera Saheb, R/o. Ulimeswaram, Peddapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 30 Ruthala Naga Raju, S/o. Late Sriramulu, R/o. K.E. Chinnayapalem, Kotanandur Mandal, East Godavari District. 31 Vasamsetti Panduranga, S/o. Suranna, R/o. Chandramampalli, Peddapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 32 Palla Srinivas, S/o. late Surya Gangadharam, R/o. Simhadripuram, Kirlampudi Mandal, East Godavari District. 33 Barre Venkatraju, S/o. varadaraju, R/o. Gorinta, Peddapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 34 Pusala Veera Venkanna, S/o. Veeraswamy, R/o. Gadala, Korukonda Mandal, East Godavari District. 35 Pedde Chittaiah, S/o. Late Ramaswamy, R/o. Atchutapuram, Gokavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 36 Geddam Venkataratnam, S/o. Late Palavalli, R/o. Chinakondepudi, Sitanagaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 37 Geddam Seshaiah, S/o. Pedaveera Venkaiah, R/o. Muggalla, Sithanagaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 38 Chapala Lazar, S/o. Sri Saheb, R/o. Appanaramunilanka, Sakhinetipalli Mandal, East Godavari District. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited, Rep. through its Managing Director, Vidyut Soudha, Somajiguda, Hyderabad. 2 Eastern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd., through its Managing Director, Visakhapatnam. 3 Superintending Engineer, Operation, Electrical, Eastern Power Distribution Company of A.P. Ltd., Power House Compound, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District. ..RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR N.SRIDHAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR P.R.BALARAMI REDDY (SC FOR AP TRANSCO) The Court made the following : O R D E R: The petitioners, who claim to be working as Village Electricity Workers under a scheme framed by the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board, filed the present writ petition for a writ of Mandamus to direct the respondents to regularize their services. Admittedly, the petitioners’ cases were considered by the respondents under B.P.Ms.No.36 dated 18-05-1997, and rejected on the ground that they could not come up in merit for being appointed against 50% of the vacancies earmarked for the category of persons to which the petitioners belong. While Sri N.Sridhar Reddy, learned counsel for the petitioners, does not seriously dispute the said reason given by the respondents, he, however, submitted that as the petitioners have been working since the year 1990, their cases deserve to be considered for regularization. In my considered view, the relief of regularization cannot be granted in view of the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Karnataka vs. Umadevi[1], and reiterated in Official Liquidator vs. Dayanand and others[2]. The fact that the petitioners’ cases were earlier considered for regularization in terms of B.P.Ms.No.36 dated 18-05-1997 and rejected on the ground that they have not come up in merit disentitles the petitioners to seek regularization again in the absence of any other scheme. It is, however, made clear that as and when vacancies arise and are notified, the petitioners are entitled to apply and compete with others for appointment in the regular vacancies. Subject to the above observation, the writ petition is dismissed. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY, J Dated 23rd January, 2009 vrn [1] (2006) 4 SCC 1 [2] (2008) 10 SCC 1