B. SRINU BABU Vs. AP TRANSCO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, initially challenging the action of the respondents in not considering the last date of examination as the criteria for conversion of the Additional Assistant Engineer (AAE) post to Assistant Engineer (AE) as was done in the case of several persons and to direct the respondents to take last date of examination of B.Tech as the criteria for the conversion of Additional Assistant Engineer post to Assistant Engineer post instead of the issue of provisional certificate of the B.Tech course or in the alternative to cancel the conversion orders issued by the Additional Assistant Engineer and treat the petitioners as Additional Assistant Engineer and entitled for all the benefits flowing out of such cancellation. Subsequently, the writ petitioners filed I.A.No.1 of 2022 seeking amendment of the prayer, which is extracted hereunder:

(2.) The case of the petitioners in the present Writ Petition is that they were initially appointed as Additional Assistant Engineers (AAE) during the year 2009 and they have attended B.Tech (EEE) examination and the last date of examination of the 1st petitioner is 16/8/2010 and the 2nd petitioner had written the last examination on 9/3/2011 in the B.Tech course. The 1st petitioner obtained provisional certificate on 12/7/2012 and the 2nd petitioner on 6/8/2011 respectively. On obtaining the said certificates, the petitioners herein made a representation to the 1st respondent for conversion from the post from AAE to AE. Basing upon the said representation, the respondents herein have converted the petitioners from the post of AAE to AE, vide memo dtd. 10/2/2014, from the date of issuance of the provisional certificate i.e., 13/0/2011 and 9/3/2011 respectively of both the petitioners. Aggrieved by the same, the present Writ Petition came to be filed on the ground that in the case of several persons, the respondents have taken last date of the examination as the criteria for conversion from the post of AAE to AE and in the case of the present writ petitioners, the respondents have taken the date of issuance of the provisional certificate for conversion of the post from AAE to AE, for which action of the respondents, vide the impugned memo dtd. 12/11/2021, the petitioners herein will be deprive of the seniority/salaries (for more than 11 months) and other service benefits as Assistant Engineers and thereby, the petitioners herein prayed this Court to direct the respondents to consider the last date of examination as the criteria for the conversion of the post from AAE to AE post instead of issuance of provisional certificate of B.Tech course or alternative to cancel the conversion orders issued and treat the petitioners as AAEs by extending all benefits including seniority.

(3.) Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents would submit that at the request of the petitioners and as per the procedure contemplated under the Rules and Regulations of the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board (APSEB) and by relying on the Regulation 33(1) of the APSEB Rules and on giving willingness of the petitioners to forego their seniority in the cadre of AAE by counting 50% of regular service rendered as AAEs to avail the benefits of conversion in accordance with B.P.Ms.No.596 dtd. 6/6/1978, amendment regulation was issued under APSEB Service Regulations Part-III (6)(B) Note-2 for the purpose of fixation of seniority in the cadre of Assistant Engineers. Accordingly, the conversion orders have been issued to the petitioners. Regulation 33(1) of the APSEB Regulations Part-I is extracted hereunder for the convenience, which is applicable to determine the services for the purpose of increment with following conditions: