Full Judgment Text
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CASE NO.:
Appeal (civil) 4202 of 2003
PETITIONER:
A.P. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
RESPONDENT:
K. SUDHARSHAN REDDY & ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 04//6\001@pVs.
Y.T. NAIDU & ORS.
@
July 4, 2006
BENCH:
Dr.AR. Lakshmanan & Altamas Kabir
JUDGMENT:
J U D G M E N T
WITH
CIVIL APPEAL No. 4201/2003
ALTAMAS KABIR, J.
Pursuant to an advertisement No.2/83 published by it,
the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission conducted
recruitment to Group-II (A) Services and upon completion of
the process of selection, the selected candidates were
appointed in 1985 itself. In keeping with GOMS No. 502
dated 26th June, 1976, 5 % weightage marks were awarded to
candidates who had obtained their basic qualifications
through Telugu medium. The same was challenged before the
Andhra Pradesh High Court by Non-Telugu Medium
candidates in a Writ Petition, being No. 2041/1981, which was
allowed by the learned Single Judge by his judgment dated
7th June, 1981. By the said judgment and order the learned
Single Judge quashed the aforesaid Government Order on
the ground that it was discriminatory and violative of Articles
14 and 16 of the Constitution.
Two Writ Appeals were filed from the order of the
learned Single Judge, one by the State of Andhra Pradesh and
the other by the Telugu Medium candidates. Both the Writ
Appeals were heard analogously by a Division Bench of the
Andhra Pradesh High Court which by its judgment and order
dated 15th September, 1981 allowed he Writ Appeals and
upheld the Government Orders whereby 5 % weightage in total
marks was given to Telugu Medium candidates, upon holding
that the same did not violate Articles 14 and 16 of the
Constitution. Consequently, the Writ Petition filed by the
Non-Telugu Medium Candidates was dismissed. The same
resulted in the filing of Civil Appeal No.2914/1981 ( V.N.
Sunanda Reddy & Ors. vs. State of Anhdra Pradesh & Ors.) in
this Court. Subsequently, the State of Andhra Pradesh
issued a more comprehensive Government Order No.603
dated 18th November, 1981 and extended 5 % weightage to all
Telugu Medium Students who were candidates for
recruitment by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service
Commission to any service in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
The statutory rules framed in terms of the said Government
Order were once again challenged by Non-Telugu Medium
candidates before the Andhra Pradesh Administrative
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Tribunal at Hyderabad. The Tribunal by its order dated 18th
January, 1994, allowed the said application filed by the Non-
Telugu Medium candidates upon holding. as was done in the
earlier matter, that the said Government Order was violative
of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. As will be apparent,
the view taken by the Tribunal was contrary to the decision of
the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and it
resulted in a Special Leave Petition being (Civil) No.
6395/1994 filed by the Telugu Medium candidates and by the
State of Andhra Pradesh by way of Special Leave Petition ) No.
13446/1994. As the question involved in both the matters
was the same, they were taken up together for hearing by
this Court and were disposed of by a common judgment
dated 25th January, 1995.
Although, at the time of the hearing of the appeals, it was
sought to be urged on behalf of the State that the weightage
had been given in the interest of the State to enable it to
recruit persons who are better acquainted with Telugu
language, which was the official language of the State, such a
stand was rejected and it was held that the Division Bench of
the Andhra Pradesh High Court was not right when it
accepted such view. This Court held further that the Division
Bench was not justified in upsetting the views expressed by
the learned Single Judge.
While disposing of the said appeals, this Court took note
of a submission made on behalf of Telugu Medium students
that in the event the weightage given to them in recruitment
was found to be faulty, those Telugu Medium candidates
who had already been appointed on the basis of such
weightage should not be disturbed and it was also submitted
that those Telugu Medium students whose appointments
could not be made on account of pendency of the
proceedings should be given one further chance to compete
for future recruitment in the post in question and for that
purpose suitable age relaxation may be made in their case.
Finding such submission to be reasonable, this Court
observed and directed as follows:-
"...In our view this request is quite
reasonable and deserves to be granted.
We, therefore, direct that despite our
finding that 5 percent weightage given to
the Telugu medium graduates in the
present case is violative of Articles 14
and 16 (1) of the Constitution, those
Telugu medium graduates who have
already been appointed on the strength of
such weightage and who are working on
their concerned posts should not be
disturbed and their appointments will
not be adversely affected by the present
judgment. On the other hand, those
Telugu medium graduates who have
been selected on the strength of the
weightage but to whom actual
appointments have not been given on
account of pendency of the present
proceedings should be given a chance to
compete for such posts as and when
future recruitment to such posts is
resorted to and for that purpose only
once suitable age relaxation may be given
to them in case they are otherwise found
suitable on merits to be appointed in
such future direct recruitment to such
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posts. In other words, only on account of
the fact that they have become age
barred, they should not be denied
appointments on the strength of their
meritorious performance. This will be by
way of only one time concession about
age relaxation."
Consequently, Civil Appeal No. 2914/1981 was allowed,
the judgment and order of the Division Bench was set aside
and the decision of the learned Single Judge was restored and
the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP ) Nos. 6395 & 13446/1994
were dismissed and the judgment and order of the Andhra
Pradesh Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad in O.A.No.
2142/1993 was confirmed.
Despite the views expressed by this Court in the above
appeals, the matter was not allowed to rest and one K.
Sudharshan Reddy, the respondent No.1 before us in Civil
Appeal No.4202/203 and Sri Y.T. Naidu, who is respondent
No.1 before us in Civil Appeal No.4201/2003, filed separate
applications before the Andhra Pradesh Administrative
Tribunal, being O.A.No.6141/1995 and O.A.No.2470/2001,
under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985,
complaining that the respondents had acted in a manner
contrary to law by giving the advantage of weightage marks
while preparing the merit list for preparation of the seniority
list in view of the aforesaid judgment of this Court. It was
the contention of the said applicants that the direction that
the services of those Telugu Medium candidates who had been
appointed on account of the weightage given should not be
disturbed, did not include any condition that such candidates
were to be given the benefit of weightage of 5 % of the total
marks also for the purpose of computing seniority. In other
words, it was sought to be contended that the protection given
by the aforesaid judgment of this Court to Telugu Medium
students, who had already been selected with the benefit of
weightage, was only to the extent of their appointment and
that for their ranking in the merit list, the additional 5%
marks could not be counted.
The said argument advanced on behalf of the said two
respondents found favour with the Tribunal which was
persuaded to hold that the protection afforded to the Telugu
Medium candidates did not extend to the counting of such
weightage for the purpose of determining seniority in the
cadre. The learned Tribunal, therefore, directed the
Government to take follow up action to reduce the weightage
marks given to the Telugu Medium candidates and to prepare
the new ranking list and to fix the seniority on the basis
thereof.
Both the Original Applications were disposed of by the
Tribunal by its aforesaid judgment and order dated 23rd May,
2001, which was challenged before the Andhra Pradesh High
Court by way of Writ Petitions Nos. 16321/1001 and
16283/2001. Both the Writ Petitions were dismissed by
identical orders with the observation that the Tribunal had
merely followed the judgment of this Court and the impugned
order did not, therefore, suffer from any legal infirmity. These
two appeals before us have been filed by the Andhra Pradesh
Public Service Commission against the orders passed in the
said Writ Petitions and since they involve common questions
of law and fact, the same have been taken up together for
hearing and disposal.
Appearing for the appellant-Commission, Mr. Ranjit
Kumar, learned Senior advocate, took us through the relevant
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portions of the directions given by this Court which have been
quoted hereinbefore and tried to explain the true meaning
and purport thereof, which according to him, had been
completely misunderstood both by the Tribunal, as also the
Andhra Pradesh High Court. Mr. Kumar emphasized on the
use of the expression "those Telugu Medium Graduates who
have already been appointed on the strength of such
weightage and who are working on their concerned posts
should not be disturbed and their appointments will not be
adversely affected by the present judgment." (underlining by
us). He emphasized that the said direction could be broken
up into three parts in order to understand and appreciate
their true meaning and purport. It was submitted that this
Court included in the scope of its order Telugu Medium
candidates who had already been appointed on the strength
of the weightage given. Secondly, those persons who were
working on their concerned posts should not be disturbed and
thirdly their appointments were not to be adversely affected.
Mr. Kumar added that a conscious distinction had been made
by the Court in respect of those Telugu Medium graduates
who had been selected on the strength of the weightage but to
whom actual appointments had not been given. Mr. Kumar
submitted that in their case the Court directed that they
should be given a chance to compete for such posts when
future recruitment to such posts was required and for that
purpose only once suitable age relaxation could be given to
them in case they were otherwise found suitable on merit to
be appointed in future to such posts.
In addition to his aforesaid submission on the merits of
the views expressed by the Tribunal and the Division Bench
of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Mr. Kumar also urged that
if the judgment and order of the Tribunal and the High Court
were allowed to stand, it would result in unsettling of the
entire seniority position which prevailed in 1981 in different
services through out the State and the same would lead to a
chaotic situation. It was submitted that such an action could
hardly be undertaken at such a distant point of time.
In support of his said submission, Mr. Kumar referred to
the decision of this Court in the case of Prabodh Verma and
Ors. vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors., (1984) 4 SCC 251,
wherein in paragraph 28 such a scenario has been
considered, discussed and dilated upon.
Reference was also made to a decision of this Court in
the case of Arun Tewari and Ors. vs. Zila Mansavi Shikshak
Sangh and Ors., (1998) 2 SCC 332, wherein with reference to
the aforesaid case, similar views have been expressed.
Mr. M.N. Rao, learned senior advocate, who appeared for
the respondent No1. in both the matters, on the other hand,
strongly supported the view expressed by the Tribunal.
Mr. Rao submitted that having held that the Government
Orders granting weightage of 5% marks to Telugu Medium
candidates was violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the
Constitution, it could never have been the intention of this
Court to perpetuate such arbitrariness and all that was
protected by this Court’s order were the appointments which
had been made in favour of such Telugu Medium candidates
who had been given the benefit of weightage in terms of the
concerned Government Orders. According to Mr. Rao, to hold
otherwise would be to negate the very decision of this Hon’ble
Court in the earlier matter.
It was further urged that the revision of the seniority list
could always be done at any stage since all the required
particulars were available in the office of the concerned
authorities.
Referring to the decision of this Court in the case of Ajit
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Singh and Ors.(II) vs. State of Punjab and Ors., (1999) 7 SCC
209, Mr. Rao submitted that while discussing "the catch up
role", it was observed that there should not be any difficulty
in amending the seniority list since the seniority list at a
particular level would have to be amended only when the
senior general candidates reach the said level.
Mr. Rao urged that this Court had held that such
weightage was arbitrary and that the addition of 40 marks
which represented 5 % of the total aggregate marks would give
the Telugu Medium candidates, a strong advantage over
candidates from other mediums, particularly when
competition was fierce and even one mark could tilt the
decision in favour of a candidate.
Having carefully considered the submissions made on
behalf of the respective parties, we are unable to agree with
the submissions advanced by Mr. Rao since in our view, after
having held the impugned Government Order to be violative of
Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, it was the intention of
this Court to maintain the status quo as it existed with regard
to the appointments already made where certain candidates
had already been given the benefit of weightage. We are
inclined to agree with Mr. Ranjit Kumar that the Court
intended to protect not only the appointment of such
candidates but also all their service conditions, which
included their right to seniority as had accrued to them at
the time of their initial appointment. In our view, the said
intention of this Court was quite clear from the language used.
If this Court had intended that the weightage given to the
concerned candidates was not to count towards their position
in the merit list, it would have said so explicitly. On the other
hand, while mentioning the fact of their appointment on the
strength of such weightage this Court went on to say that
such candidates would not be adversely affected by the
judgment. In other words, the decision rendered in the
judgment would not adversely affect their existing service
conditions.
Furthermore, the question of seniority was never in
question prior to the decision of this Court in Civil Appeal
No.2914/1981 decided on 25th January, 1995.
Apart from the above, the other submission of Mr. Ranjit
Kumar regarding the difficulty of unsettling the settled
position after all these years cannot also be lightly brushed
aside.
For the reasons aforesaid, the appeals must succeed and
are allowed. The judgment and orders of the Andhra Pradesh
High Court appealed against are hereby set aside along with
the judgment and order dated 23rd May, 2001 passed by the
Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal passed in
O.A.Nos.6141/1995 and 2470/2001.
There will be no order as to costs.