N.V.L. NARASIMHA MURTY Vs. PRL. SECRETARY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner claims to be the employee of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Consumers Federation Limited (for short FEDCON), appointed between 1986 and 1989. It appears, in the year 2001, a decision was taken by the Government to implement voluntary retirement scheme and options were called from the employees of FEDCON. The petitioners herein have not opted for voluntary retirement scheme and they were sought to be retrenched. At that stage, challenging the decision of the Government in G.O.Ms. No. 16, dated 22-03-2001, where under the Government decided to windup the FEDCON and authorized to call for option for voluntary retirement, batch of writ petitions were filed. The said writ petitions were considered and by judgment, dated 05-09-2002 this Court dismissed the writ petitions and the request made on behalf of the petitioners that a direction be issued to the Government to formulate the scheme for absorption in any other Government service was also rejected. However, liberty was granted to Government to evolve policy. It appears that no such policy was evolved. The petitioners claim that they were entitled to claim retrenchment compensation but the same was also not paid to them. It appears that in the earlier writ petitions the petitioners seem to have pursued the issue of their absorption in the Government service or in any of its entities.

(2.) In the present writ petition, the petitioners seek to issue writ of Mandamus and to declare inaction of respondents in not exercising its discretion to evolve the policy of reemployment of FEDCON employees as amounting to arbitrary exercise of power and violative of Articles 16 (1), 14, 21 and 300-A of Constitution of India. Alternatively they seek a direction to pay retrenchment compensation.

(3.) With reference to first limb of the order the issue is covered by the decision in the judgment referred to above. The operative portion of the order reads as under: