PERSONAL SECRETARIES TO THE HONBLE JUDGES AND COURT MASTERS ASSOCIATION HIGH COURT BUILDINGS HYDERABAD Vs. SECRETARY FINANCE GOVERNMENT OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Association of Personal Secretaries to the Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Court Masters has filed this writ petition seeking pay scale on par with the Section Officers of the Strictly Confidential Branch of the Secretariat of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Originally when the writ petition was presented in this Court on 10-2-2000, the prayer read:

(2.) Subsequently, the petitioner by way of WPMP No.2898 of 2001 sought amendment of the prayer and the Court allowed that WPMP on 6-6-2001 permitting the petitioner to amend the prayer. The amended prayer reads:

(3.) The case of the petitioner- association, in brief, is as follows: The petitioner's association was formed in the year 1978 and that association is recognised by the Hon'ble the Chief Justice of High Court of Andhra Pradesh and since its inception, the association has been espousing the causes of its members before the concerned authorities in improving the terms and conditions of their service. The Court Masters and Personal Secretaries to the Hon'ble Judges are in the cadre of Gazetted Officers and their mode of appointment and service conditions are governed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court Service Rules, 1975 and their duties and responsibilities are ordained by the Andhra Pradesh High Court Standing Orders, 1992. According to Rule 4 of the said rules, the Honourable the Chief Justice is the appointing authority. As per clauses (d) of Rule 7 of the said rules, the minimum educational qualification prescribed for the said post is a degree in Arts or Science or Commerce or Law of a University in India and he should have passed Shorthand High Speed Examination of 180 words per minute and also Typewriting Higher Grade Examination both in English conducted by A.P. State Board of Technical Education and Training, Hyderabad. In practice, however, the candidates holding a degree in law are being preferred. The mode of appointment to the post is given in the table mentioned under Rule 5 against 'Category 6', viz., (i) by direct recruitment; (ii) by promotion or transfer from any other service. In practice, the High Court has been recruiting and appointing the Personal Secretaries to the Honourable Judges by conducting a test and on verification of their confidential reports and antecedents and only those who have been found to have such standards as per the requirements of the High Court are appointed. Any person, whatever higher qualifications he may possess, must come out successful in the test conducted by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and his confidential records and antecedents must be found satisfactory for his appointment as Court Master and Personal Secretary. The duties and responsibilities of the Court Masters and Personal Secretaries are prescribed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court Standing Orders. The duties, among other things, include that the Personal Secretaries of the Hon'ble Judges must attend the residences of the Honourable Judges of the High Court in the mornings, evenings and on all public holidays including Sundays whenever their services are required by the Honourable Judges; they must also attend to all the works entrusted by the Honourable Judges and should also attend to the Court work in the afternoon session. Their working hours are not merely between 10-30 a.m., and 5-00 p.m., with half-an-hour lunch break as in the case of other Government employees, but extend to the hours beyond the prescribed working hours depending upon the work entrusted by the Honourable Judges; their duty includes to take down the dictations of judgments relating to various kinds of cases from the Honourable Judges viz., writ petitions, civil and criminal appeals including most confidential and sensitive matters and also matters involving administrative appeals filed by the employees of lower Courts questioning the punishments imposed on them etc. They are also required to attend to the works of noting down the minutes of the meetings of the Honourable Judges, relating to various matters on the administrative side, dealing with the official correspondence of the Honourable Judges, supervising the duties of the members of the staff posted at the residences of the Honourable Judges and corresponding with the various sections of the Court and other offices in some important matters on behalf of the Honourable Judges as directed by them. Thus, the Personal Secretaries to the Honourable Judges are discharging the duties of most confidential and responsible nature and working even beyond the office hours prescribed and also on Sundays and public holidays as per the requirement of the Honourable Judges.