JUDGMENT

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.-These cases involving the issue as to the effective date of regular appointment and seniority unfold certain disturbing features - non application of mind by the High Court to the crucial aspects of the case, vagueness of the directions issued, the deficiency of pleadings and material placed on record by the contending parties and above all the default of the appellant-Corporation in allowing other similar orders becoming final while contesting certain others including the present matters.

2. The undisputed facts common to all these cases may be noticed:

Pursuant to the advertisements made by the appellant-Corporation (hereinafter referred to as APSRTC ), the respondents were selected as conductors and appointed on daily-wages initially for a certain period of time and thereafter their services were extended on the same terms and ultimately regularized after a year or two. They were placed on time scale of pay and their seniority was counted from the date of such regularization. Long afterwards, the respondents filed writ petitions contending that their services ought to have been regularized from an anterior date i.e., from the date of their initial appointment on daily-wage basis and the service benefits should be granted accordingly. This prayer was practically granted by the High Court with a rider that they should have completed one year of continuous service as defined in Section 25B of the Industrial Disputes Act. There was practically no discussion on the merits in any of these cases either in the judgments under appeal or the earlier judgments which were followed in the instant cases. All the writ appeals were disposed of at the admission stage itself. One more fact to be noticed is that no averment has been made nor any material placed before us to establish that the judgments which were followed in these cases or similar judgments in certain other cases have been contested by APSRTC by filing LPAs or SLPs.

3. Now, we will advert briefly to the facts in each of these appeals.

Civil Appeal No. 2455 of 1999

4. Pursuant to the advertisement issued by APSRTC calling for the applications for the posts of Conductors in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam regions, the respondents were selected and appointed as Conductors on daily-wage basis in October, 1987. They joined the service on various dates between 16.10.1987 and 12.12.1987. The services of the respondents were regularized with effect from 15.2.1989. It is to be mentioned that the order appointing them on daily-wages and on regular basis is not on record. The respondents filed writ petition in the year 1997 in the High Court of A.P. alleging that certain persons employed by the private bus operators and absorbed into Corporation service after nationalization of the routes, though appointed later on i.e., after 12.12.1987, were shown as seniors to the respondents in the seniority list (the date of which is not mentioned). Thus, according to the respondents, they were made juniors to the displaced employees who were appointed subsequently. It does not appear that any counter-affidavit was filed in the Writ petition. The stand of the appellant as seen from the grounds in the Writ appeal is that the respondents were appointed on daily-wage basis after selection in order to cope up with the peak season demands between January and July and their services were regularized as and when vacancies arose. The details of the vacancies that had arisen were however not spelt out. The reason for offering appointment to the respondents on regular basis with effect from 15.2.1989 is not specifically mentioned either in the memorandum of Writ appeal or the SLP. The learned single Judge allowed the writ petition of the 50 respondents directing regularization in the posts of Conductors "reckoning continuous service of the writ petitioners as envisaged in Section 25B of the Industrial Disputes Act for the purpose of benefits of service". On appeal