JUDGMENT :-

Anil R. Dave, J.

1. Being aggrieved by the judgment delivered by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Appeal No.1683 of 1998 on 14th August, 2002, this appeal has been preferred by the South Central Railway Employees Co-Op. Credit Society Employees' Union.

2. It is necessary to know the circumstances which gave rise to the present litigation, which has put the employees of the appellant-union to undue hardship and long-drawn litigation.

3. The South Central Railway Employees Co-Op. Credit Society (hereinafter referred to as 'the Society'), had framed rules governing service conditions of its employees and the said rules had been approved by the Registrar of Co-op. Societies, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. This Court, in Civil Appeal No.4343 of 1988, had decided that there was no reservation policy for the employees of the Society in the matter of promotion to higher cadre. The said decision had been taken by this Court for the reason that there was a dispute whether the policy of reservation was to be followed only at the stage of recruitment of the employees or it was also to be followed in the matter of giving promotion to the higher cadre. After considering