A.P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers ... vs D. Achyuta Rao & Ors

D. Achyuta Rao had preferred writ petition Nos. 9565 and 13985 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals being Nos. 1786 and 1787 of 2003 were allowed by the High Court against which the Federation has preferred the appeals arising out of SLP ) Nos. 15912-15913 of 2004.

Mohd. Anwar Ali had preferred writ petition Nos. 9669 and 13941 of 2003 which were also dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals preferred by him being Writ Appeal Nos. 1784 and 1785 of 2003 were allowed by the impugned common judgment and order of the High Court. The appeals arising out of SLP ) Nos. 15923 and 15924 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation against the aforesaid judgment allowing the appeals of Mohd. Anwar Ali..

M. Seshagri Rao preferred writ petition Nos. 9671 and 13172 of 2003 which were also dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals being Nos. 1791 and 1794 of 2003 preferred by him were allowed by the impugned common judgment and order of the High Court. The cross-objections had been preferred by the Federation which were dismissed by the High Court. The appeals arising out of SLP ) Nos. 15046 to 15051 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation challenging the impugned judgment and order of the High Court allowing the writ appeals. The Federation has also filed appeals arising out of SLP ) No. 15926 and 15927 of 2004 against the order dismissing its cross- objections.

K.V.N. Rao had preferred writ petition Nos. 9670 and 13163 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge. The appeals preferred being writ appeals being Nos. 1795 and 1792 of 2003 were allowed by the impugned common judgment and order of the High Court. The cross-objections preferred by the Federation were also dismissed. The appeals arising out of SLP ) Nos. 15920 to 15921 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation against the impugned judgment and order of the High Court.

Shekhar Goud has preferred writ petition Nos. 10039 and 15270 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge. The writ appeals preferred by him being Nos. 1793 and 1796 of 2003 were allowed. The Federation has impugned the common judgment and order of the High Court in the appeals arising out of SLP ) Nos. 15918 and 15919 of 2004.

Lastly U.S. Rao has filed similar writ petitions being No. 9633 of 2003 which was dismissed by the learned Single Judge. The writ appeal preferred by him being No. 1801 of 2003 was allowed. The Federation has impugned the judgment and order of the High Court in the appeal arising out of SLP ) No. 15917 of 2004.

The questions that arise for consideration in these appeals relate to the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (hereinafter referred to as 'the VRS') offered by the Federation to its employees having regard to the reduced cadre strength. It is the case of the Federation that only those of the employees were retained who came within the cadre strength determined in accordance with the norms enunciated by the Federation and the remaining employees were offered the benefit of the VRS. The six contesting respondents in these appeals had challenged their inclusion in the list of surplus employees whose services were to be discontinued. Initially a large number of writ petitions were filed but the factual position as it emerges today is that the strength of the cadre is 159 and, therefore, 163 employees out of 322 had to be declared surplus. Out of those declared surplus 137 accepted the VRS while 26 went to court. The contesting respondents before us are amongst those who challenged the order of the Federation declaring them surplus. When these appeals came up before us we were informed that the writ appeals preferred by 20 others were still pending before the High Court and, therefore, we had directed that those appeals may also be disposed of so that all the matters could be heard together, if necessary. Accordingly those writ petitions have been heard and disposed of by the High Court and the aforesaid 20 writ petitioners have also accepted the VRS pursuant to the order of the High Court dated 14th September, 2005. Thus the dispute is confined to the 6 contesting respondents before this Court whose writ appeals were allowed by the High Court.

Shorn of unnecessary details the facts of the case are as follows :-

After considering the objections filed by some of the employees the appellant-Federation prepared a common seniority list indicating surplus employees and proposing to offer VRS benefits to them. On May 7, 2003 the VRS was announced giving option to the employees likely to be affected thereby to accept the benefits under the VRS. The scheme was made effective from July 1, 2003. The cut-off date for VRS benefit was June 30, 2003.

(d) Wherever the date of joining is same, the date of birth is taken into account i.e., the employee with more age is placed as senior.

Accordingly the writ petitions preferred by the contesting respondents herein and many other writ petitions were dismissed by the learned Single Judge.

Applying these principles to the cases of the six respondents before this Court he submitted that the Division Bench of the High Court rightly allowed the appeals and granted relief to the contesting respondents having regard to the peculiar facts of each case after thoroughly considering their cases in the light of the well-settled principles of law.

The case of K.V. Nageshwara Rao (respondent in SLP ) Nos. 15920 15921 of 2004) stands on the same footing as that of Seshagiri Rao. He was appointed to the post of Chemist in the Federation on May 12, 1987 and was, therefore, senior to the other officers (respondents 3 to 8 in the writ petitions), who were appointed later.

In SLP ) Nos. 15918-15919 of 2004 and SLP ) No. 15917 of 2004, though the appellant-Federation has challenged the decision of the High Court, the parties likely to be adversely affected if its contention is upheld by us, have not been made parties in the appeals. We must, therefore, refuse to interfere with the order of the High Court. We, therefore, find no merit in these appeals and they are accordingly dismissed. Parties to bear their own costs.