ORDER :

1. Leave granted.

2. These two appeals arise out of a common judgment dated 18.12.2008 of the High Court of Judicature of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad (as it then was) in writ petition nos. 16807, 16801, 23093, 23404, 23101 and 17219 of 2008.

3. These two appeals arise out of Writ Petition (C) No. 16807 of 2008 and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 17219 of 2008 respectively.

4. It is agreed that the facts w.r.t. all the three appellants involved in these two appeals are similar. We therefore, take the facts of appeal arising out of SLP(C) No. 6906-6910 of 2009 as representative facts.

5. The first appellant R. Venkata Ramudu of the above-mentioned appeal, was temporarily appointed, by order dated 23.3.1992, as an Assistant Executive Engineer by direct recruitment. Recruitment was by a process of selection conducted by the then Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission. He was allotted to Irrigation Department.

6. The post of Assistant Executive Engineer is the category VI post of the service constituted under Rule 1 of the Andhra Pradesh Engineering Service Rules, 1967 (hereafter “S