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 : 20939 of 2000 Between: 1 Pentakota Gangadhar Srinivas, S/o. Devudu, R/o. D.No.11-7-1/4, Sri Lakshmi Apartments, Power House Line, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 2 P.Srinivasa Rao S/o.Venkata Ratnam R/o. Bendapudi, Thondangi Mandal, East Godavari District. 3 Patri Venkata Ramana Kumar S/o. Sri Lakshman Rao R/o. 18/100, Katanpet, Dowlaiswaram, Via Rajahmundry, East Godavari District. 4 Narala Venkata Reddy S/o. Late Nageswara Rao R/o. D.No.11-7-12, Near Power House, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 5 Manda Satyanarayana S/o. Late Satyam R/o. Near Ganapathi Temple, Vatlapalem, Samalkot Mandal, East Godavari District. 6 Dangeti Vishnu Mohan S/o. Rajagopal R/o. D.No.11-7-2, Near Power House, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 7 Vithanala Balakumar S/o. Mahalakshmi Rao R/o. D.No.5-150, Indrapalem, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 8 Vasamsetty Eswara Prasad S/o. Trimurthulu R/o. D.No.5-150, Indrapalem, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 9 Suribhatla Appa Rao S/o. Nagabhushanam R/o.Mallam, Pithapuram Mandal, Via Samalkot, East Godavari District. 10 Kambala Nanaji S/o. Ellayya R/o. C/o. A.P.S.E.B., Power House Quarters, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 11 Basava Venkata Naga Durga Sarveswara Rao S/o. Narasimha Rao R/o. D.No.1-1-41, Near Nukalamma Temple, Kondayyapalem, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 12 Tarlapu Laxmi Ganapathi Rao S/o. Sai Kumar R/o. D.No.70-1A-6, Ramanaiahpet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 13 Pithani Sri Rama Chandra Murthy S/o. Adinarayana R/o. D/o.11-7-13, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 14 Anasuri Veera Venkata Satyanarayana S/o. Satyanarayana R/o. D.No.16-22-93, Dairy Farm Centre, Sambamurthy Nagar, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 15 Paramsetti Veera Venkata Chandra Vara Prasad S/o. Krishna Murthy R/o. D.No.30-7-19, Mantripragadavari Street, Behind Yadavula Ramalayam, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 16 Kona Srinu S/o. Srikrishna R/o. D.No.4-69/6, DMHO Colony, Indrapalem, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 17 Bathula Srinivasa Rao S/o. Lakshmana Rao R/o. D.No.8-12-17, Datlavari Street, Gandhinagar, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 18 Juttuka Venkata Ramana S/o. Sri Tata Rao R/o. Chandrapalem, Samalkot Mandal, East Godavari District. 19 Pithani Veera Venkata Srinivasa Rao S/o. Adinarayana R/o. D.No.11-7-72, Near Power House, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 20 Nandikolla Veera Suri Babu S/o. Late Sri Narayana R/o. D.No.66-3-13, Narasannanagar, Panduranga Temple Street, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 21 Gummella Krishna S/o.Veerabhadra Rao R/o. A.Kothapalli, Thodangi Mandal, East Godavari District. 22 Garaga Veera Venkata Ramana Murthy S/o. Late Sri Veeraswamy R/o. D.No.18-9-1, Ganapathinagar, Samalkot, East Godavari District. 23 Kuvvula Chanti S/o. Rajulamma R/o. D.No.1-10-102, Backside of Power House, Brownpet, Samalkot, East Godavari District. 24 Avala Suresh Kumar S/o. Yesepu R/o. G.Ragampet, Peddapuram Mandal, East Godavari District. 25 Satyavolu Sithapathi Rao S/o.Umamaheswara Rao R/o. D.No.18-4-39, Ayodhya Ramapuram, Samalkot, East Godavari District. 26 Chitturi Satyanarayana S/o. Nooka Raju R/o. D.No.1-1, Challayammapet, Vatlapalem, Samalkot Mandal, East Godavari District. 27 Bommithi Venkata Ramana S/o. Chandra Rao R/o. Kappalavari Veedhi, Lingamparthi, Yeleswaram Mandal, Samalkot Mandal, 28 Guttula Krishnarjuna Rao S/o. Late Polayya R/o. D.No.1-59, Near Railway Gate, Madhavapatnam, Samalkot Mandal, East Godavari District. 29 Peruri Rambabu S/o. Sri Tata Rao R/o. Nukalammagudi Street, Ramaraopet, Kakinada, East Godavari District. 30 Bommithi Suryanarayana S/o. Chandra Rao R/o. Lingamparthi, Yeleswaram Mandal, East Godavari District. 31 Adabala Nooka Raju S/o. Subba Rao R/o. Near Glucose Factory, Sarpavaram, Kakinada, East Godavari District. .. PETITIONERS AND 1 Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited, Rep. by its Chairman & Managing Director,Vidyut Soudha, Somajiguda, Hyderabad. 2 Superintending Engineer, Operation Electrical, A.P.Eastern Power Distribution Co.Limited,Power House Compound, Rajahmundry. 3 The Managing Director, A.P.Eastern Power Distribution Co.Limited Visakhapatnam. ..RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioners:MR.N.SRIDHAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: 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 Contract Labourers with 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 belongs. 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