(Per Ramesh Ranganathan, J.)

Repeated attempts by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to bring about a unified cadre of teachers in government, mandal parishad and zilla parishad schools have met with little success. The last such effort, prior to Act 27 of 2005, which met its waterloo was when the Rules, in G.O.Ms.No.538 dated 20-11-1998, were declared ultravires the Presidential Order and were quashed by the Division Bench of this Court in M. Kesavulu v. State of A.P.1. Aggrieved by the order of the Division Bench in M. Kesavulu1, the A.P. United Teachers Federation filed S.L.P.Nos.7496-7510 of 2005 and the Supreme Court, by order dated 25-10-2004, stayed the contempt proceedings initiated pursuant to the order of the Division Bench. The State of A.P. also preferred S.L.P.Nos.22597-22612 of 2004 and, while granting stay of the contempt proceedings, these S.L.Ps. were directed to be tagged along with S.L.P.Nos.7496-7510 of 2004. All the S.L.Ps. are still pending before the Supreme Court.

2. As the order of the Division Bench, in M. Kesavulu1, was not suspended by the Supreme Court, the State Government then commenced efforts to obtain approval of the President for organizing the cadre of teachers in mandal parishad and zilla parishad schools into local cadres, in yet another attempt at achieving integration of the two cadres, i.e., the teachers cadre in government schools and the teachers cadre in mandal parishad and zilla parishad schools. The Central Government, vide letter dated 7-3-2005, sought information from the Government of A.P. whether (i) organization of teaching and non-teaching staff of zilla parishad and mandal parishad schools in Andhra Pradesh into local cadres would cause disquiet among the teaching and non-teaching staff; and (ii) whether it was legally tenable and procedurally appropriate to issue the proposed orders when the principle behind the proposed orders had been challenged in the S.L.Ps filed by the A.P. United Teachers Federation before the Supreme Court, notwithstanding the fact that the Union of India was not a respondent In the S.L.Ps. While furnishing information to the Central Government, in its letter dated 18-03-2005, the Government of A.P. informed them that if the President of India permitted teachers working in Panchayat Raj institutions to be organized into local cadres, and they were integrated with government teachers, the S.L.Ps. pending before the Supreme Court would become infructuous and, therefore, there was no legal objection to issuing the proposed orders. Concurrence of the Government of India was sought to enable the State Government to organize the teaching and non-teaching staff of zilla parishad and mandal parishad schools into local cadres. However, Presidential approval has not been accorded till date.

3. The legislative route was then taken and Ordinance 12 of 2005 was promulgated on 13-7-2005 and under Section 12(1) thereunder the Rules notified in G.O.Ms.Nos.95 and 96, dated 25-7 -2005 were made. Ordinance 12 of 2005 was challenged before the A.PAT in O.A. 3109 of 2005 and batch and, on Act 27 of 2005 being made, repealing Ordinance 12 of 2005, necessary amendments were carried thereto and several other O.As. were filed to include a challenge to the vires of the Act. While several contentions were raised challenging the validity of Act 27 of 2005, and the Rules notified in G.O.Ms.Nos.95 and 96 dated 25-7-2005, the Tribunal, by order dated 14-8-2006, allowed O.A. No. 3109 of 2005 and batch and quashed Section 1 (3) of Act 27 of 2005 as ultravires the Presidential Order. The Tribunal further held that Act 27 of 2005 could not be brought into force without approval of the President as stipulated under the proviso to Para 3(1) of the Presidential Order and, since the Act could not have been brought into force, the Rules issued under G.O.Ms.Nos.95 and 96 dated 25-7-2005 were also unenforceable.

4. The order of the Tribunal, in O.A.Nos.3903 of 2005 and batch dated 14-8-2006,