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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
INDIRA BANERJEE, V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, JJ.
The State Of Telangana & Anr. – Appellants
Versus
B. Subba Rayudu And Others - Respondents
Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 1565-66 of 2021
Decided on : 14-09-2022
Fact of the Case:
The Respondent No.1, a member of a Scheduled Tribe, held the State Cadre post of Joint Director-Class A in the Animal Husbandry Department of the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh. The Central Government issued a Circular laying down guidelines for allocation of employees to the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively. The Respondent opted for allocation to the State of Telangana. However, he was tentatively allocated to the State of Andhra Pradesh. The Respondent made representations to be considered a local candidate of the State of Telangana, but his request was not accepted. The Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions of the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, finally allocated the Respondent to the State of Andhra Pradesh. The Respondent filed an application challenging the allocation order before the Central Administrative Tribunal at Andhra Pradesh. The Administrative Tribunal issued an interim order to the effect that the final allocation of the Respondent to the State of Andhra Pradesh would be subject to the final result of the Original Application. The Respondent filed a Writ Petition challenging the interim order. The High Court allowed both the Writ Petitions, setting aside the allocation order and directed the Ministry to allocate the Respondent to the State of Telangana with effect from 14th January 2016 and to give him posting in the cadre of Joint Director, Class-A in the Animal Husbandry Department of the State of Telangana and also to release his salary within four weeks.
Finding of the Court:
The High Court held that the Respondent was entitled to be allocated to the State of Telangana even on spouse ground and the Union of India erred in rejecting the request for allocation to the State of Telangana. The High Court rightly arrived at the conclusion that the respondent was a local candidate of Telangana and was entitled to allocation as per his seniority in terms of Paragraph 18(f) of the guidelines. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed.
Issues: The main issue was the allocation of the Respondent to the State of Telangana in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the guidelines for final allocation of State Government Employees. The Court also considered the local candidature of the Respondent and the spouse ground for allocation.
Ratio Decidendi: The High Court held that the Respondent was entitled to be allocated to the State of Telangana even on spouse ground and the Union of India erred in rejecting the request for allocation to the State of Telangana. The High Court rightly arrived at the conclusion that the respondent was a local candidate of Telangana and was entitled to allocation as per his seniority in terms of Paragraph 18(f) of the guidelines.
Final Decision: The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed.
JUDGMENT :
INDIRA BANERJEE J.
These Special Leave Petitions are against a final judgment and order dated 8th December 2020 whereby the High Court for the State of Telangana and for the State of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad, allowed the Writ Petitions filed by the Respondent No.1 being Writ Petition (TR.) No. 5482 of 2017 and Writ Petition No. 24820 of 2017, set aside an order being F. No. 29/01/2016SR(S) dated 14th January 2016 of the Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions and directed the Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions to allocate the Respondent to the State of Telangana with effect from 14th January 2016. The State of Telangana was directed to give a posting to the Respondent in the cadre of Joint Director-Class A in the Animal Husbandry Department of the State of Telangana and also pay salary to the Respondent as Joint Director-Class A in the Animal Husbandry Department within four weeks from the date of the judgment and order.
2. The Respondent No.1, a member of a Scheduled Tribe, held the State Cadre post of Joint Director-Class A in the Animal Husbandry Department of the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh. Smt. B. Shanthabai, wife of the Respondent No.1, was also a State Government employee working as Assistant Registrar in the same State.
3. By a Notification No.S.O.655B dated 4th March 2014, the Central Government notified the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 bifurcating the State of Andhra Pradesh into two States the new State of Telangana and the residue state of Andhra Pradesh with effect from 2nd June 2014.
4. In terms of Section 80 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Central Government issued a Circular being F. No. 27/13/213/SRS dated 29th October 2014 laying down guidelines for allocation of employees to the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
5. As per the said Guidelines and in particular Paragraph No. 12 Clause (vii) thereof, no allocable posts were to be omitted while distributing the cadre strength between the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
6. By a Circular being G.O. Ms.312 dated 30th October 2014, the Government of Andhra Pradesh circulated the approved Guidelines for final allocation of State Government Employees to All India Services under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Some of the relevant provisions of the Guidelines are set out hereinbelow for convenience:
a) Persons who immediately before the appointed day are serving on substantive basis in connection with the affairs of the existing State of Andhra Pradesh shall be considered for allocation, Employees holding posts on purely ad hoc basis immediately before the ‘appointed day’ shall be considered against substantive posts (or regular) held by them on the ‘appointed day’ if any.
b) Allocation of employees would be based on final distribution of posts including vacant posts proposed by the Advisory Committee in consultation with the successor States and after approval of the Central Government.
c) Allocable employees shall be considered for allotment between the successor States on the basis of seniority list as available on June 01, 2014.
d) ….There shall not be any case of an employee not being allocated to either of the successor States.
e) State service employees who hold allocable posts shall be allocated after seeking option from the employees indicating their preference to serve in either of the successor States after taking their option into consideration.
f) The allocation shall be done in order of seniority as available on June 01, 2014. Those who have opted, who are ‘local candidate’s’ relatable to the State to which they have opted, shall, in order of their seniority, be considered for allocation first. If allocable posts in that category remain, then others who have opted to the state may be allocated in order of seniority. If still posts remain allocation will be made in reverse order of seni
Allocation of state cadre employees must consider spouse factors and local status as per guidelines under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014.
Under the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Act, 2014 and the guidelines issued by the Central Government, government servants are given two opportunities to express their preference for allocation....
The court established that Section 82 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act governs the allocation of employees in public sector undertakings, overriding the applicability of Section 77.
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