Judgment

DUA. J.:- This batch if writ petitions raise common questions of fact and law and have, therefore, been heard together and are being disposed of by a common judgment. As the salient features of all the writ petitions are similar in essential particulars, we may, for understanding the nature of the controversy, only refer to the facts of Writ Petition No. 217 of 1970 (B. V. Subhaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh), because Shri Sarjoo Prasad who led the arguments on behalf of the petitioners addressed us by reference to this writ petition as illustrative of the common controversy.

2. Writ petition No. 217 of 1970 has been presented in this Court by 387 teachers under Article 32 of the Constitution praying for a Writ in the nature of mandamus or order or direction restraining the respondents from giving effect to, (i) the orders, G. O. Ms. No. 2219 dated November 3, 1967, read with Government of Andhra Pradesh Memo No. 6573 dated November 8, 1968 and G. O. Ms. No. 1321, dated June 17, 1969, (ii) the substituted Rule 14 of the Rules made under the Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, and (iii) the substituted Rule 16 of the Rules made under the Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads A