KATTA VENKATA BALAJI Vs. SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of mandamus declaring the impugned Memo No.CV&SO/SO/AS.Vig/F.No.1037/2017, C.No.534/2017, D.No.280/17, dtd. 28/12/2017 issued by the respondent-Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO) as being illegal, arbitrary, unjust, violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India and, consequently, prayed to hold that the petitioner is entitled for counting total service rendered by him in the post of Police Constable by duly extending pay protection for the service rendered by him in the post of Police Constable (AR and Civil) consequent on his appointment to the post of Fireman in terms of Fundamental Rule No.22(a)(iv) of the Fundamental Rules read with Rule 26(1) of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, with all consequential and attendant benefits including carry forwarding the leaves, et., by duly extending the judgment of this Court in W.P.No.34269 of 2016 dtd. 20/10/2016.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he was originally recruited as Police Constable (Armed Reserve) with effect from 2/2/2008 and subsequently, he appeared for direct recruitment to the post of Police Constable (Civil) and selected to the said post in Krishna District, vide D.O.No.38/2012, C.No.102/A2/2009, dtd. 19/1/2012 and while discharging his duties as Police Constable, he applied for the post in the respondent-Corporation, which was notified vide Advertisement No.01/J.S. (PER)/2013 dtd. 22/4/2013, wherein the respondent-Corporation has invited applications from the eligible candidates for direct recruitment to the post of Fireman and Security Guards and since the petitioner is eligible and qualified for the said post, he selected with Hall Ticket No.32725 and the petitioner was appointed as Fireman, vide proceedings No.G.O.O.No.445/JS (Per)/2016 dtd. 10/3/2016 with the time scale of pay of Rs.18725.0034775 with usual allowances. It is the further case of the petitioner that prior to appointment as Fireman in the respondent-Corporation, he worked as Police Constable (A.R.) and (Civil) for a period of nearly 8 years and according to Rule 26 of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, he is entitled for pay protection. While discharging his duties as Fireman, he made a representation on 28/11/2017 to the respondents 2 and 3 herein requesting to count his past service as A.P.Police Constable to the APGENCO Fireman for the purpose of pension and arrears and to carry forward his leave accounts, GIS and other benefits from A.P.State Police Constable and also to regularize his service for continuation of pension, service and other benefits. The said representation came to be rejected by the respondent-Corporation after careful examination of the Service Regulations, stating that the re-appointment of such person to any service shall be treated in the same way as a first appointment to such service by direct recruitment and all regulations governing such appointment shall apply and all such re-appointments, he shall not be entitled to count any portion of his previous service for any benefit of concession admissible under any regulation or order. Accordingly, the representation filed by the petitioner was rejected. Aggrieved by the said rejection of the representation, the present Writ Petition came to be filed and the petitioner relied on Rule 26 of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980 and Fundamental Rule 22(a)(iv), which is extracted hereunder for better understanding:-

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that basing on the above said provisions, the petitioner is entitled for pay protection in the post of Fireman and he also relied on the judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of The Commissioner of Police, Vijayawada City, Vijayawada, Krishna District and others v. A.Vanamala Rao and others in Writ Petition No.34269 of 2016 dtd. 20/10/2016 and he would further submit that the resignation submitted by him to the post of A.P.Police Constable is a technical resignation for the purpose of the present post and that does not disentitle the petitioner to claim service benefits as indicated above.