Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 – s.77 and s.82 – Whether the High Court’s reliance on Section 77 is correct as it applies to state government employees, and whether it is Section 82 that governs the services of the respondents as it relates to employees of Public Sector Undertakings: Held: From the text of the provisions, it is evident that Section 77 applies to state government employees – Section 82 clearly states that the Corporations shall determine the modalities for distributing their employees between the successor states – Pursuant to this, the Board prepared the Agenda Note dated 16.08.2017 that sets out the allocation of various kinds of employees between APSRTC and TSRTC – Upon going through the Agenda Note, it is found that the Board had decided that Class III and Class IV employees, who are appointed at the regional level, are to be allocated to the Corporation in which the region falls after bifurcation – There is no dispute about the fact that the respondents were recruited at the regional level and belong to the successor state Corporation in which the region falls – In this view of the matter, following the statutory mandate of Section 82 read with the Agenda Note dated 16.08.2017, the respondents will continue their employment in the same region, which is under the present TSRTC – The High Court has incorrectly relied on Section 77 of the Act and has in fact failed to notice Section 82 and the follow-up action taken thereunder – The High Court also ignored the correct enunciation of the applicable law in the order dated 18.04.2018, whereunder the respondents were directed to report at their parental zones as per the guidelines – There is no dispute about the applicability of Section 82 – The division bench of the High Court failed to note that the respondents who were on deputation were not absorbed in the deputed posts – In fact, their seniority is continued in their parental zones – The High Court also did not consider the subsequent development when the respondents were in fact repatriated to their parent cadre as a consequence of the order passed by the division bench on 18.04.2018 – It is for this reason that this Court had, at the stage of admission, stayed the judgment of the division bench on 05.10.2020, which stay is continuing till date – The consequence is that the respondents have returned to this parent cadre in the State of Telangana – For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court is unsustainable. [Paras 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Ankit Gyan. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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