K VISHWANATHAM Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is an Adi Andhra belonging to a scheduled caste. He is in the service of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, having entered it as a Lower Division clerk in the Revenue Department of East Godavari District on 15-4-1940. He was subsequently promoted as an Upper Division Clerk in 1950 and thereafter transferred to the Development Department in the Secretariat Service in a similar post in 1954. On 31-12-1955. he was promoted as a Section Officer. It is the petitioners case that the Government of Andhra Pradesh. in preparing panel of names from among the Section Officers of the Secretariat for appointment to the Posts of Assistant Secretaries for the year 1964-65 in the year 1964. did not include the petitioners name, though he is the senior most among the Scheduled Caste employees eligible for appointment to the 9th 16th and 22nd vacancies in a cycle of 25 vacancies of the posts of Assistant Secretaries, in accordance with Rule 8 of the Special Rules for Andhra General Service Class IX, (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Rules") read with Rule 22 of the General Rules for the State and Subordinate Services Rules (hereinafter referred to as the "General Rules"). Even when the Government made temporary appointments pending selection by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, it made appointments in contravention of the statutory rules and executive instructions contained in their Memoranda Nos. 2273/62-8 (General Administration (Services -D) Department dated 19-7-1963 and No. 3743/63-1 General Administration (Services -D) Department dated 13-9-1963 in the last of which, it stated that the rules of reservation must be followed when making appointments even on temporary basis in spite of several representations, no notice was taken of the claim of the petitioner, and the Government gave an endorsement to the petitioner stating that this case for selection to the post of an Assistant Secretary would be considered in due course, and ignoring his rights, a panel was finally approved and appointments were made in pursuance thereof on 1-3-1965. It is therefore prayed that a direction be given to the Government to follow Rule 8 of the Special Rules read with Rule 22 of the General Rules in preparing a panel for appointment of Assistant Secretaries from among the Section Officers for the year 1964-65 by including the petitioners name for selection by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission to a post in the 9th vacancy in the cycle of 25 vacancies and that pending disposal of the writ petition, to direct the Government not to make further appointments to the posts of Assistant Secretary.

(2.) According to the petitioner in his reply affidavit to the counter of the 1st respondent, Government of Andhra Pradesh, his writ petition having been admitted, two weeks time was taken by the Government of filing a counter, and in the meanwhile the Government deleted Rule 8 of the Special Rules by G. O. Ms. No. 2066 General Administration (Services-B) Department dated 15-11-1965 with retrospective effect to come into force on 1-1-1961.

(3.) The Governments attitude was that there were only two Section Officers belonging to the scheduled castes in the Departments other than Law and Finance Departments other than Law and Finance viz., (1) the petitioner and (2) K. Lakshmana Rao, that their ranking was 183 and 212 respectively in the common seniority list of all the Departments except Law and Finance, that in view of the heavy responsibilities attached to the post of Assistant Secretary to the Government, a policy decision was taken by the Government not to apply the rule of special representation for purposes of appointment to the category of Assistant Secretaries to Government, even though the Special Rules provide for the same. IN furtherance of that policy, Rule 8 of the Special Rules was deleted from 1-1-1961. It was stated that the name of the petitioner was included in the list of eligible Section Officers, i.e., those who have put in more than 5 years service as Section Officers, and that the same was sent to the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, that the Public Services Commission was also informed of the Governments decision not to apply the rule of special representation in respect of appointments to the category of Assistant Secretaries to Government and that necessary action will be taken to amend the Special Rules suitably, that eligibility by itself does not entitle the Section Officers automatically to the appointment, and that the Public Service Commission will have to consider the suitability of the candidates from a list of eligible candidates.