THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.19694 OF 2008 DATED 15TH DECEMBER, 2010 BETWEEN: Vajrala Rami Reddy … Petitioner And The Depot Manager, APSRTC, Sattenapalli Depot, Sattenapalli, Guntur District, And Another. … Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO.19694 OF 2008 ORDER The petitioner in I.D.No.94 of 2005 on the file of the Labour Court, Guntur, is aggrieved by the Award dated 29.02.2008 passed therein to the extent it denied him continuity of service, back wages and attendant benefits. The petitioner was a Conductor in the service of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). He was removed from service after due enquiry on the charges of cash and ticket irregularities. His removal from service was under order dated 23.04.2002. His appeal and review having met with failure, the petitioner approached the Labour Court by way of the subject I.D. Upon examination of the material on record, the Labour Court was of the opinion that though the charges levelled against the petitioner were proved, the punishment of removal from service imposed upon him was harsh and disproportionate. The Labour Court, upon appreciation of the evidence, opined that it was not a case of misappropriation or cheating and therefore a moderate punishment was called for. It accordingly set aside the removal order visited upon the petitioner and directed his re-appointment as a fresh Conductor with the existing scale of pay. However, the Labour Court failed to take note of the fact that the petitioner had attained the age of superannuation on 30.06.2006, long before the passing of the Award. Therefore, the relief granted by the Labour Court is incapable of implementation. As the APSRTC did not choose to challenge the findings of the Labour Court with regard to the proportionality of the punishment, the said findings have attained finality. In that view of the matter, the only issue that is left for consideration is as to the proper relief to be granted to the petitioner. As the petitioner was removed from service on 23.04.2002 and would have retired in the normal course on 30.06.2006, he was denied four years and two months of service. In the light of the fact that the Labour Court concurred with the findings of the Enquiry Officer that the charges levelled against the petitioner were duly proved, he would not be entitled to continuity of service for the entire period that he was kept out of service. After due consideration, this Court is of the opinion that the ends of justice would be sufficiently served by granting the relief of continuity of service for the purpose of computing pensionary benefits for half the period that the petitioner was kept out of service. He shall accordingly be deemed to have continued in service upto 31.05.2004 for the purpose of computation of his terminal benefits. Needless to state, the pay and emoluments upto that date would have to be calculated notionally for the purpose of computing his terminal benefits. He will however not be entitled to any back wages. The APSRTC is accordingly directed to extend the benefit of continuity of service to the petitioner notionally upto 31.05.2004 for the purpose of computing his terminal benefits and accordingly release the same within a period of two (2) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The Award under challenge is modified to the extent indicated above. The Writ Petition is disposed of with the above direction. There shall be no order as to costs. -------------------------- SANJAY KUMAR,J 15TH DECEMBER, 2010 Note: Issue C.C. in 3 days. B/O PGS/VGSR