S. B. SINHA, C. J.

( 1 ) ALL these Writ Petitions arising out of common order of the A. P. Administrative tribunal in O. A. No. 2139 of 2001 and batch dated 28-6-2001 were taken up for hearing together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. ISSUE:

( 2 ) THE core issue involved in these writ petitions is whether the transfer of the inspectors of Police to the unit of Hyderabad city Police from other zones or the transfer of Inspectors of Police from one zone to another, as the case may be, made on administrative grounds and in public interest was on permanent basis and consequently they are entitled to take their respective seniority in the units to which they were transferred and whether they can be repatriated back to their parent zones? preview of the relevant provisions of the Presidential order and consequential orders issued by the Government:

( 3 ) PURSUANT to Six Point Formula agreed upon by various political leaders of the state, by Constitution 32nd Amendment act, the Parliament introduced Article 371-D for the State of Andhra Pradesh with the object to ensure equitable opportunities in the matter of Public Employment for persons coming from various parts of the state. In exercise of the powers conferred by clauses (1) and (2) of Article 371-D of the constitution of India, the President issued the order known as Andhra Pradesh Public employment (Organisation of Local Cadres and Regulation of Direct Recruitment) order, 1975 (for short the Presidential order )- Para 3 of the Order provides for organisation of Local Cadres. Para 3 (2) provides that the posts belonging to the category of Junior Assistants and to each of the other categories equivalent to, or lower than that of a Junior Assistant in each department in each district shall be organised into a separate cadre. Under subpara (3), the posts belonging to each nongazetted category, other than those referred to in sub-paragraph (2), in each department in each zone shall be organised into a separate cadre. As per para 3 (4), the posts belonging to each specified gazetted category in each department in each zone shall be organised into separate cadre. As per Third Schedule appended to the Order, inspectors of Police in Police Department is a specified gazetted category (S. No. 51 ). According to Para 2 (1) (m), zone means a zone specified in the Second Schedule, comprising the territories mentioned therein. As per the Second Schedule, hyderabad comes under Zone VI which consists of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, nizamabad, Mahboobnagar, Medak and nalgonda Districts. Under the Second schedule, six zones have been created in the state for the purpose of the Presidential order. Para 6 deals with local areas. As per para 6 (2) (ii), the posts of Inspectors of police shall be regarded as Zonal Post.

( 4 ) UNDER sub-paragraph (6) of Para 3 notwithstanding anything contained in subparagraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5), the Central government was empowered to notify the departments in which and the categories of posts for which a separate cadre has to be organised for the City of Hyderabad and on such notification, the posts belonging to each such category in each such department in the City of Hyderabad (other than those concerned with the administration of areas falling outside the said City) shall be organised into a separate cadre and the posts so organised shall be excluded from the other cadres, organised in pursuance of para 3 or constituted otherwise and comprising of posts belonging to that category in that department. The Central government in G. S. R. 528 (E) dated 18-10-1975 issued notification under para 3 (6) and the Police Department is not part of such notification. Therefore, the police Department of Hyderabad City is part of Zone VI only and no separate city cadre has been constituted for any of the categories in the Department. Para 4 of the order deals with allotment of persons.

( 5 ) NOW, we may refer to Paras 5 and 14 of the Order which are relevant for o

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