K RAJAIAH Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) - This appeal by special leave is directed against the order of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, holding that the appellant was appointed to the post of Sub-Inspector of Police (Civil) as a direct recruit and directing that he shall be accorded seniority from the date when he joined the post on such appointment.

(2.) On December, 30,1968, the appellant, who was then an undergraduate, was appointed to the post of Reserve Sub-Inspector of Police. During his service in that post, he passed the B.A. examination of the Osmania University in April 1971. Pursuant to an advertisement in the local newspaper inviting applications for the (Civil), the appellant applied for the post and appeared in the written test and viva voce test. He was selected and appointed to the post on December 14,1976 on probation for two years along with thirty-sever others. After the completion of his probationary period, he was confirmed in the post on November 29, 1978.

(3.) It appears that the Inspector General of Police did not accede to the request of the appellant to take into account the period of his service as Reserve Sub-Inspector of Police in computing his seniority in the new post of Sub-Inspector of Police (Civil). Thereafter, the appellant made a representation to the Government. The Government in its order being GOMS No. 344 dated June 11, 1982, took the view that the entire period of service of the appellant as Reserve Sub-Inspector of Police should be counted under Rule 15(c) of the Andhra Pradesh Police Subordinate Service Rules and directed that the appellant would be accorded seniority from the date of his first appointment to the post of Reserve Sub-Inspector of Police, that is, from December 30, 1968, placing him below Shri Khaja Mohiuddin and above Shri S. K. Ahmed in the list of Sub-Inspector of Police (Civil). It was further directed that "this order shall, however, not become a precedent for others."