ORDER :

1. One Gannina Srinivas and 20 others filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a Writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in continuing all the petitioners in the regular posts as daily wage employees and Contract Labour for long periods ranging from 11 years to 22 years which is an unfair labour Practice as wholly arbitrary, highly illegal, unjust and unconstitutional being violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to regularise the services of the petitioners by making them Permanent with all attendant benefits applicable for the regular post such as Scale of Pay and other service conditions.

2. It is the case of the petitioners that the Electricity Department was a Government Department and after enactment of the Electricity Supply Act, 1948 the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board was constituted. The State Government initiated reforms in the electricity sector through the A.P. Electricity Reforms Act, 1988 under which the AP State Electricity Board was divided into two companies viz. AP TRANSCO and APGENCO in the year 1999. Separate companies for distributi