IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD MONDAY, THE EIGHTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WAMP No. 519 OF 2008 AND WRIT APPEAL NO : 2591 of 2005 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 13/10/2004 in WP NO : 17679 OF 1998 on the file of the High Court.) Between: Syed Bahadur Hussain, s/o Syed Bayzeed, R/o C/o Mohd. Abdul Quader, H.No. 17-1-242/A, Mama Mukhthar Street, Old Santhoshnagar Hyderabad. ..... APPELLANT AND 1 Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Musheerabad, Hyderabad, Vice Chairman & Managing Director. 2 Deputy Manager (Personnel), O/o the Regional Manager, Golconda Region, J.B.S. Picket, Secunderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Counsel for the Appellant: MR.G.VIDYASAGAR Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.V.T.M.PRASAD (S.C.FOR APSRTC) The Court made the following : JUDGMENT: (Per Sri A. Gopal Reddy, J) When WAMP No. 519 of 2008 ﬁled for expediting the hearing of the writ appeal is taken up for hearing, both the learned counsel agreed to argue the main appeal itself. Accordingly, the WAMP is ordered and the appeal is taken up for hearing. This writ appeal is directed against orders dated 13-10-2004 passed by a learned single Judge of this Court in Writ Petition No. 17679 of 1998 directing the Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation to consider the case of the appellant – writ petitioner for granting extraordinary leave or leave without pay or at least to treat the period from 13-06-1975 to 10-01-1993 as continuous service for other benefits, if not for the purpose of salary etc. The appellant who was appointed as a Record Tracer in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (for short, ‘the Corporation’) on 29-12-1959 was promoted as Senior Clerk by an order dated 23-05- 1970 and thereafter, transferred to Medak Depot where he reported to duty on 31-12-1973. Prior to such transfer, he was sanctioned leave for 190 days on medical grounds from 01-12-1972 to 07-06-1973 and leave without pay for 196 days from 08-06-1973 to 20-12- 1973. Even after reporting at Medak, he was on leave without pay from 02-01-1974. He was also directed for medical examination to Civil Surgeon of APSRTC, Musheerabad on 31-12-1973, but he failed to report to the Civil Surgeon. Thereafter, the case of the appellant was referred by the District Manager, Medak, by letter dated 19-04-1974 to the Civil Surgeon, APSRTC, Musheerabad, who in turn referred the case of the appellant to the Government Leprosy Clinic, Hyderabad for treatment. While it is the contention of the appellant that he reported to duty, the Corporation’s stand was that he has not reported back after medical examination and remained unauthorisedly absent for a long period. Ultimately, the appellant was removed from service by an order dated 13-06-1975 for his unauthorized absence for such a long time. Ten years after his removal i.e., on 16-09-1985, he made a representation to the Depot Manager, Medak stating that he was taking treatment from Government Leprosy Clinic since May 1974 to March 1984 and was undergoing treatment as an out patient and made several representations seeking payment of salary. Since there was no response on his representations, he ﬁled Writ Petition No. 2265 of 1992 to treat him to be in service and to direct the respondents to continue him in service, awarding all consequential beneﬁts. A learned single Judge of this Court vide orders dated 23-09-1992 disposed of the said writ petition with the following direction: “the only relief that could be given in the writ petition is that the petitioner shall be allowed to join duty and the infectious nature of the disease does no longer exist. If he is found to be medically not ﬁt, the petitioner may be retired from service treating him as a medically incapacitated employee and settlement and other beneﬁts should be given on that basis. In such an event, the compensation amount payable to him shall bear interest at 12% p.a. from 1.2.90 till the date of payment. If the petitioner is eligible to draw any amount from the Provident Fund account, he shall be permitted to do so forthwith. The writ petition is allowed with the directions given above.” Pursuant to the above orders, the Depot Manager (Personnel), Oﬃce of Regional Manager, JBS Depot, Secunderabad passed an order on 28-08-1993 stating that the judgment of the High Court gives the impression that the employee was denied the back wages and there is also no speciﬁc direction to allow all service beneﬁts in the said judgment. As such, the case of the appellant may be treated at par to that of any fresh employee and pay ﬁxation and other privileges as normally accruing to any fresh employee in discharging of his duties may be allowed in his case also. The same is the subject matter of challenge in Writ Petition No. 20561 of 1996 which was disposed of by a Division Bench of this Court, the operative portion of which reads as under: “This Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot give an executive order. If the petitioner is aggrieved that the order of this Court is not implemented, he has to ﬁle contempt case. On the other hand if in the previous writ petition this Court had not granted the relief of reinstatement with backwages and with continuity of service this Court in this writ petition cannot grant such a relief. However, it is open to the authorities to consider the petitioner’s representation and pass appropriate order within two months.” Thereafter, the appellant is stated to have made a representation for continuity of service and back wages and other attendant beneﬁts. The same was rejected by the Personnel Oﬃcer of Hyderabad Zone by proceedings No.P1/785(3)/96-HZ, dated 06-03-1998 stating that the request of the appellant for back wages and attendant beneﬁts and continuity of service is not acceded to. Challenging the above order, the appellant ﬁled Writ Petition No. 17679 of 1998. The learned single Judge allowed the writ petition by the impugned order with the aforementioned direction. Pursuant to the same, the appellant appears to have made a representation on 29-11-2004. On receiving the representation, an order was passed by the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Corporation vide oﬃce order No.E3/785(1)/2005-HZ, dated 21-06-2005 according permission to treat the period of absence i.e., from 13-06-1975 to 10-01-1993 as extraordinary leave. On granting the above relief, the appellant made a further representation on 13-09-2005 to treat the period as continuous service for other beneﬁts if not for the purpose of salary. The same was rejected by the Chief Personnel Manager, Hyderabad Zone vide proceedings No.E3/785(1)/2005-HZ on 30-09-2005. On rejection of the request, the present appeal has been ﬁled questioning the order passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ Petition No. 17679 of 1998, with an application to condone the delay in preferring the appeal. Heard Sri G. Vidyasagar, learned counsel for the appellant. In view of the orders as referred above, once the Division Bench of this Court rejected the claim of the appellant, the order passed in proceedings dated 28-08- 1993 rejecting the claim of the appellant and treating him as a fresh employee and that he will be allowed pay ﬁxation and other privileges as normally accruing to any fresh employee in discharging of his duties has been confirmed. Even otherwise, on the representation made by the appellant when his claim has been rejected, this Court by the impugned order allowed the writ petition directing the Managing Director of the Corporation to consider the claim of the appellant for relaxation of the regulations and treat the period of absence as extraordinary leave or leave without pay or at least to treat the period as continuous service for other beneﬁts. The appellant having acquiesced the orders of this Court and made a representation, invited an order and having derived beneﬁt, cannot now challenge the order passed by the learned single Judge. In view of the same, we do not ﬁnd any merit in the writ appeal and it is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. A. GOPAL REDDY, J VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J 08-09-2008 ks ........REGISTRAR To 1 Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, Musheerabad, Hyderabad,. 2 Deputy Manager (Personnel), O/o the Regional Manager, Golconda Region, J.B.S. Picket, Secunderabad. 3 Two CD copies.