. IMPORTANT POINT
The court's decision established that the requirement of officers for election duties could be fulfilled by appointing officers of equivalent rank from other departments, in addition to Tahsildars.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard learned Counsels for both the parties.

2. The writ appeals came to be directed against the common order dated 23.02.2024 passed in I.A.No.1 of 2024 in W.P.Nos.14051 and 14038 of 2023 by the learned Single Judge, whereunder the appellant has sought for certain modifications in the order. The said applications came to be disposed of by the following order:

“I.A.No.1 of 2024 in W.P.No.14051 of 2023

and

I.A.No.1 of 2024 in W.P.No.14038 of 2023

(For Modification)

6. The prayer sought in I.A.No.1 of 2024 in W.P.No.14051 of 2023 is as under:

“For the reasons stated above it is therefore prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to modify the interim orders in W.P.No.14051/2023, dated 16-06-2023 in terms of orders dated 11-05-2023 in W.P.No.12824/2023 and pass such order or orders in the interest of justice.”

7. In the material papers filed along with these I.As, there is a Counter Affidavit. The last two paragraphs in the Counter Affidavit referred to the requirement for modification for providing Officials for conduct of Election and prayer for modification. Therefore, this Court would read the averments in this Counter Affidavit for consideration of this Application for modification. The last two paragraphs of the said Counter Affidavit read as under:

9. It is respectfully submitted that, the Chief Electoral Officer, Andhra Pradesh while communicating the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India vide ECI, New Delhi, Lr.No.23/2023-ERS(Vol.III), Dt.26.12.2023 has issued instructions to complete the exercise of transfer of officers connected directly with election works as early as possible so as to furnish compliance report to the Commissioner by last week of January, 2024 as desired by the Commission. In this regard, the Tahsildars who acts as AEROs holds crucial responsibilities in the General Elections 2024. Due to lack of sufficient Tahsildars, the District Authorities are facing huge inconvenience for smooth running of Revenue Administration and are unable to comply with the guidelines formulated by the Election Commission and the same may jeopardize the very process of conducting the ensuing general elections for Parliament and the State Assembly.

10. Therefore, it is prayed that the Hon’ble Court may be pleased to modify the Interim order in W.P.No.14051 of 2023 dated 16.06.2023 in terms of orders dated 11.05.2023 in Writ Petition No.12824 of 2023 and pass such other order (or) orders in the interest of Justice.”

8. A mention was made by Sri G.V.S. Kishore Kumar, Learned Government Pleader for urgent listing of these Applications in order to meet with the administrative exigency in view of the ensuing elections for the Parliament and the State Legislature.

9. The Learned Government Pleader has taken this Court through the correspondence between the Chief Electoral Officer, Andhra Pradesh and the Government. Learned Government Pleader has drawn the attention of this Court to a Memo bearing Memo.No.1284/Elecs.A/A1/2023-2, dated 01.01.2024 to submit that several Tahsildars are required to be supplied for the Election duties to the Election Commission and that by the operation of the Interim Order of this Court dated 16.06.2023, the Official Respondents are unable to meet with the requirements as sought by the Chief Electoral Officer. He would submit that the existing Tahsildars are inadequate for meeting with the current requirements. Therefore, it is urged by the Learned Government Pleader to modify the Interim Order to enable the Government to appoint the adequate number of Tahsildars for Election duties.

10. This Application is stoutly opposed by the Learned Senior Counsel representing the Writ Petitioners. They have submitted that the requirement of Tahsildars as projected by the Official Respondents, is not true and that this Application is only a subterfuge to achieve something which the Applicant State could not directly achieve. They would submit that the obligation on the part of the Government to