Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari WRIT PETITION No. 3102 of 2000 ORDER: In this writ petition, the petitioners seek for a writ of mandamus to declare the action of the 4th respondent in absorbing the respondents 5 to 48 prior to promotion/appointment given to the petitioners is contrary to the scheme prescribed under G.O.Rt. No.1271, dated 8.8.86 and also violative of the judgment of this Court in W.P. No.11060 of 1989 and batch, dated 23.10.1992 and the judgment of the Apex Court in Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No.9044 of 1997, dated 11.8.1997. A consequential direction was also sought to direct the respondents to give the benefit of promotion to them from the date on which the unofficial respondents are absorbed and place the petitioners in the appropriate place in the seniority list with all consequential benefits and salary. The petitioners herein were appointed as Paid Secretaries under the half-a-billion programme formulated by the State Government. It is stated that many persons who were appointed under the said scheme in various Government departments were absorbed and their services were also regularised. In so far as the Paid Secretaries are concerned, they were denied the said benefit. Petitioners state that initially, the service conditions of the Paid Secretaries were governed by the Common Cadre Service Regulations made under A.P.C.S. Act and after amendment of the said Act, common cadres were abolished. It is further stated that as per Section 116 AA of the Act, the Secretaries working in various Primary Agricultural Societies are required to be allotted by the Registrar as per the manner of allotment prescribed under Rule 72 of the Act. As per the said rules, the Paid Secretary, on allotment shall be deemed to be an employee of the Society and his service conditions are governed by the special bye laws framed by the Registrar. It is stated that in spite of many statutory amendments and changing of the service conditions from time to time, in the manner indicated above, there is no good salary structure nor any promotional avenues were available to them. The petitioners have been making repeated representations to the Government to treat the paid Secretaries in the State on par with the employees of the District Cooperative Central Bank and also requested it to provide promotional avenues in the service of the District Cooperative Central Bank and after prolonged agitation, the Government issued G.O. Rt. No.1271, dated 8.6.1986 making a provision for promotion/appointment to the Paid Secretaries to the post of Category V Supervisors of the District Cooperative Central Bank. It is further stated that under the said G.O., a ratio has been fixed as 9:1 between the Paid Secretaries and the eligible in-service employees of the Cooperative Central Bank. Petitioners allege that even though the said G.O. was issued in the year 1986, the respondent did not take any steps for more than 23 years. While so, the unofficial respondents 5 to 48 herein, who were working as NMRs in the 4th respondent Bank have filed W.P. No.18523 of 1989 before this Court seeking to regularise their services and this Court disposed of the writ petition by order dated 18.12.1991 directing the 4th respondent to continue the unofficial respondents on the present basis and absorb them in the vacancies, which are separate from 81 posts. Challenging the said order, an appeal, being Writ Appeal No. 103 of 1992 was filed by the Union of the Paid Secretaries before a Division Bench of this Court whereunder the Division Bench while confirming the order of the learned single judge, dismissed the said writ appeal. Against the said judgment, a Special Leave Petition was preferred before the Supreme Court in and the Supreme Court through order dated 11.8.1998, the Apex Court disposed of the said S.L.P. holding thus: “On a conjoint reading of the decision of the of the Division Bench in appeal as well as the decision of the learned single judge, it becomes clear that out of the disputed 81 vacancies in Category V in Eluru District Cooperative Central Bank on application of the ratio of 9:1, 73 vacancies would be available for being filled up by Paid Secretaries of the Primary Societies in the same district while 8 vacancies would be available for being filled up by daily wagers category V employees on their regularisation. It is also obvious that beyond these 73 vacancies which would remain reserved for being filled up by Paid Secretaries of the Primary Societies as aforesaid, if there are more than 8 vacancies in Eluru District Cooperative Central Bank, they also could be filled up by regularising daily wagers category V employees who also would be regularised accordingly. Consequently, the direction of the learned single judge as affirmed by the Division Bench ill ultimately result in giving benefit of regularisation to daily wagers Category V employees without touching 73 vacancies reserved for the Paid Secretaries of the Primary Societies in the District. In view of this clarification, no further orders are required to be passed in this Special Leave Petition. It stands disposed of in terms of the aforesaid clarification.” In the aforesaid judgment, the Apex Court clearly directed to leave the 73 vacancies and fill up the vacancies which are more than eight by regularsing the services of the daily wage employees. In fact, a circular was issued by the respondents on the very same day to fill up the reserved vacancies from the Paid Secretaries after following the due process. However, the 4th respondent initiated the process of promotion/appointment after absorption of all the unofficial respondents and issued the appointments to the petitioners nearly after a period of nine months thereafter, whereby the petitioners lost the seniority for the next promotion and service. Hence, they filed the present writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that even though the unofficial respondents were working as NMRs and even though they do not belong to the category of the petitioners, the respondents have promoted/appointed them, even prior to the petitioners. He further contended that by virtue of the regularisation, they would be overlooked for the next promotion. Respondent No.4 has filed a counter affidavit before this Court while denying the various allegations levelled by the petitioners. In para-5 of the counter affidavit, it has been stated that in pursuance of the resolution dated 17.10.1998 of the Managing Committee, the management has filled up 46 posts and the remaining posts could not be filled up due non-availability of women candidates in the category of Paid Secretaries. The respondent also denied the contention of the petitioners that the total 81 vacancies arose even prior to 1.4.87. At the hearing, Smt. Bobba Vijayalakshmi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the 4th respondent has submitted that even though the petitioners have also instituted an I.D. before the Labour Court, they have not chosen to question the regularisation of the unofficial respondents in the said I.D. She further submitted that no seniority list has been prepared and no promotions have been effected to the post of Assistant General Manager so far and that being so, the petitioners cannot have any grievance. Having considered the aforesaid submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the opinion that the petitioners have approached this Court on mere apprehension and in anticipation that they would not be considered for promotion to the post of Assistant General Manager. Hence, the writ petition is premature and the relief sought for in this writ petition cannot be granted. However, if the 4th respondent-bank prepares and finalises the seniority list for the purpose of effecting promotion to the post of Assistant General Manager and if the unofficial respondents are shown over and above the petitioners in the said list, the petitioners are at liberty to challenge the same before the appropriate forum. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. __________________ T. Meena Kumari,J Date: 29th July, 2010 pnb