MUNAGALA JYOTHI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner before this Court has filed the present petition being aggrieved by the action of the respondent No.1 in allocating the petitioner to the State of Andhra Pradesh keeping in view the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

(2.) The undisputed facts of the case are that the petitioner was appointed to the post of Civil Assistant Surgeon on 09.02.2014 and after bifurcation of State of Andhra Pradesh with effect from 02.06.2014 and formation of the new State of Telangana, she has been allocated to the State of Andhra Pradesh. The undisputed facts further reveal that options were invited from the State cadre posts of the Director of Health, vide Notification dated 10.08.2015 followed by subsequent Notifications dated 19.12.2015, 25.01.2016 and 18.02.2016 and time was granted to the employees. The petitioner submitted the option claiming as local to the Residuary State of Andhra Pradesh by virtue of study and opted for allotment to the State of Telangana. The Director of Health, Telangana State accordingly certified her local candidature as 'Andhra Pradesh' by virtue of study in Form III, duly uploading copies of her study certificates. The petitioner studied classes IV and V at Ravindra Elementary School, Vinukonda, Guntur District and Classes VI to X at Gangineni Public School, Vinukonda, Guntur District. The seniority rank of the petitioner is 4591. The tentative allocation list of Civil Assistant Surgeons was published vide Notification dated 14.07.2016 inviting representations from those aggrieved by their tentative allocation online within two weeks from the date of publication of the Notification. The petitioner did not submit any representation online against the tentative allocation to the State of Andhra Pradesh. The sanctioned cadre strength of the category of Civil Assistant Surgeons of the Director of Health is 3,142, out of which 2,966 are filled-up and 176 are vacant, of which 1,899 filled-up posts and 51 vacant posts are allocated to the State of Andhra Pradesh and the remaining 1,067 filled-up posts and 125 vacant posts are allocated to the State of Telangana. The facts further reveal that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 was notified on 01.03.2014 and the Government of India appointed 02.06.2014 as the appointed day for the purpose of the Reorganisation Act when the new State of Telangana and the Residuary State of Andhra Pradesh came into existence.

(3.) The facts further reveal that by virtue of Section 97 of the Reorganization Act, Article 371D of the Constitution of India will continue to remain in force in relation to States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The post of Civil Assistant surgeon is a state level post only but the selection process for recruitment of Civil Assistant Surgeons is as per Zonal selection as per Presidential Order. The petitioner was appointed during the recruitment year 2013 belongs to Zone-III and she was selected under Open Competition as per her merit. The petitioner did her schooling in Zone-III area and belongs to Andhra region and therefore, as per the guidelines she has been allocated to State of Andhra Pradesh.