K SADHU Vs. GOVT OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed seeking a mandamus to declare that the petitioners, who are employees of the 3rd respondent-institution, are part and parcel of the 2nd respondent-Khadi Board and entitled to all the benefits as that of the employees of the 2nd respondent-Board including pension, General Provident Fund etc.

(2.) There is no dispute as to the facts. The petitioners are all employees of Khadi Gramodyog Maha Vidyalaya, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, which was set up by the 2nd respondent in pursuance of G.O. Ms. No. 146, dated 7-3-1981. Vide G.O. Ms. No. 444, dated 5-8-1981, the State Government sanctioned the necessary staff and the 2nd respondent was directed to fill up the posts by following the Recruitment and Service Conditions Regulations of the 2nd respondent-Board. The service conditions framed under Section 29 of the A.P. Khadi and Village Industries Board Act, 1958 were approved by the Government of Andhra Pradesh vide G.O.Ms. No. 95, dated 17-4-1996. In the said Regulations, it was made clear that all the recruitment and service conditions as applicable to the employees of the 2nd respondent-Board are also applicable to the employees of the 3rd respondent-Maha Vidyalaya. Thus, the 3rd respondent is nothing but a wing of the 2nd respondent, started, controlled, maintained and managed by it. The Chief Executive Officer of the 2nd respondent is the authority administering the affairs of the 3rd respondent. When three employees of the 3rd respondent-institution retired from service, the 2nd respondent-Board, on obtaining clarification from the 1st respondent, informed that they are not to be treated as employees of the Board to whom the pension scheme is applicable. Further, even among the staff of 3rd respondent, some are covered under the scheme and others are not covered. Such an inter-classification and intra-classification are wholly impermissible, inappropriate and illegal. Further, the General Provident Fund at admissible rates had been deducted from their salaries from the very beginning. There is a variation in percentage and deduction insofar as GPF and CPF is concerned. Having deducted GPF all along, now the Department changes the GPF to CPF in order to change the status of the employees. When the 3rd respondent-institution is a wing of the 2nd respondent-Board constituted under the provisions of the Board, it is not known as to how they can treat the 3rd respondent-institution as a different and distinct entity. The 3rd respondent came into being under the provisions of the A.P. Khadi and Village Industries Board Act, 1958. Its Regulations were framed under the Act by the 2nd respondent-Board; as such, there is no justification to treat the employees of the 3rd respondent-institution differently than those of the employees of the 2nd respondent-Board. In fact, as per the Regulations framed, it is made clear that the service conditions of the Board are applicable mutatis mutandis to the employees of the 3rd respondent-institution. Thus, there is no justification in treating the employees of the 3rd respondent as a separate one by respondents 1 and 2 and denying the pension and other benefits to the petitioner. Therefore, this writ petition.

(3.) Detailed counter-affidavits have been filed by respondent No. 1 and respondents 2 and 3 separately denying the allegations made by the petitioner. In the counter of the 1st respondent, it is inter alia stated that the Government vide G.O. Ms. No. 444, dated 5-8-1981 issued orders creating necessary teaching staff and administrative staff required for Maha Vidyalaya for a period of one year and to fill up the posts of Khadi Gramodyog Mahavidyalaya by following the Andhra Pradesh Khadi and Village Industries Board Employees Recruitment and Service Conditions Regulations, 1979, as there were no regulations for the 3rd respondent-Maha Vidyalaya. The posts are still continuing. Subsequently, the Government have approved Khadi Gramodyog Maha Vidyalaya (Recruitment and Service Conditions) Regulations, 1996 vide G.O. Ms. No. 95, Industries and Commerce Department, dated 17-4-1996. It is also stated that after careful examination of the proposals of extension of pensionary benefits submitted by the 2nd respondent and keeping in view the financial implications, the 1st respondent issued G.O. Ms. No. 279, Industries and Commerce Department, dated 6-7-1994 extending the benefits of A.P. Revised Pension Rules, 1980 to the employees of the 2nd respondent-Board only on par with State Government employees with effect from 1-4-1993 and no mention was made in regard to the employees of Khadi Gramodyog Maha Vidyalaya, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. Further, petitioners 1, 7 and 8 have already been retired from service of Khadi Gramodyog Maha Vidyalaya on attaining the age of superannuation and thus the petitioners were also paid the retirement benefits i.e., CPF and encashment of leave.