THE HON’BLE SMT. JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH W.P.NO.3309 OF 2006 O R D E R (Per the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T.Meena Kumari) Heard both the counsel. 2. Aggrieved by the order dated 1.9.2005 passed by the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad in O.A.No.6307/2002, the Government of Andhra Pradesh represented by its Secretary, Education Department along with two other officials filed the present writ petition. 3. The case of the applicant before the Tribunal is that he was appointed as Junior Lecturer in zoology on 28.6.1974 in Andhra Girls College Khamma, and the said college was taken over by the Government and later she became Lecturer in Zoology. Her grievance is that though the Junior Lecturers appointed subsequently on 9.7.1975 were given the benefit of scale of Lecturers in terms of G.O.Ms.No.1174 dated 5.10.1981 read with G.O.Ms.No.13 dated 6.1.1982, she was denied the benefit in spite of her representations. Hence, she approached the Tribunal. 4. The 2nd writ petitioner – Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Hyderabad filed counter and the Education Department did not file its counter. 5. The Tribunal considering the orders passed in earlier O.As allowed the prayer sought for in the present O.A. 6. The learned Government Pleader submitted that no sufficient opportunity was given and the Education Department could not file its counter and sought to remand of the matter for adjudication afresh, after filing of counter. 7. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent supporting the impugned order, sought for dismissal of the writ petition. 8. In view of the above submission of the Government Pleader and as the Education Department did not file any counter, without going into the merits of the case and in the interest of justice, the writ petition is disposed of with the following direction: “The impugned order is set aside and the Education Department – 1st writ petitioner shall file the counter within a period of three weeks from today and thereupon the Tribunal shall dispose of the O.A. on merits within a period of three weeks from the date of filing of the counter. It is made clear that in case of default in filing the counter within the time, stipulated in this order, the impugned order of the Tribunal will stand restored.” 9. In the circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs. ------------------------------- --- T.MEENA KUMARI,J ------------------------------ ------ G.CHANDRAIAH,J AVS DATE:10.03.2008 Note: Issue C.C. in two days. B/O