The court emphasized the necessity for appellants to present their arguments in the original writ petition, as they had failed to do so, leading to a remand for fresh hearing.

JUDGMENT :

(per Hon’ble Justice B.Krishna Mohan)

Heard the learned Government Pleader for the appellants and the learned counsel for the 1st respondent.

2. This Writ Appeal is preferred against the order passed by the learned single Judge in W.P.No.33216 of 2012 dated 12.07.2024 directing the appellants to extend the same benefits as were extended to the respondent Nos.2 to 4 herein by applying the provisions of G.O.Ms.No.262 to the 1st respondent by issuing appropriate proceedings within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of the representation of the 1st respondent/petitioner therein.

3. The appellants herein are the respondent Nos.1 and 2 in the writ petition, the 1st respondent herein is the writ petitioner and the respondent Nos.2 to 4 herein are the respondent Nos.3 to 5 in the writ petition.

4. It is the case of the 1st respondent that while he was working as Junior Assistant in the establishment of Sri Chandrasekhara Swamy Devasthanam, Ch.Agraharam, West Godavari District, he was promoted as Senior Assistant on 22.10.1994 in the same Devasthanam, then he was transferred to Sri Dhaneswari Ammavari Devasthanam at Duvva Village where he was promoted as Superintendent.

The grievance of the 1st respondent is that the respondent Nos.2 to 4 were given promotions in pursuance of the G.O.Ms.No.262, dated 20.05.2002, but when it comes to the promotion of the 1st respondent, the G.O.Ms.No.888 dated 08.12.2000 was applied illogically. Consequently, he was denied promotion and the other benefits.

As seen from the seniority list prepared by the appellants as on 14.12.2021, the 1st respondent has been working as Superintendent from 01.02.2009 after being promoted, whereas the respondent Nos.3 to 5 were promoted in the year 2013. As per G.O.Ms.No.262, the 1st respondent would be entitled to the next promotion as Executive Officer Grade-I.

The 2nd respondent herein filed the counter in the writ petition stating that the 1st respondent was suspended from the service and that the Writ Petition Nos.1604 of 2010, 2416 of 2010 and 8097 of 2010 were filed before this Court seeking payment of salaries and cancellation of deputation against the orders of suspension etc. The counsel for the 1st respondent submitted that the proceedings against the 1st respondent were also dropped by the 1st appellant. As the entire service record of the 1st respondent is available with the 1st appellant, it is for the 1st appellant to extend the service benefits on par with the respondent Nos.2 to 4 by applying the G.O.Ms.No.262, dated 20.05.2002.

5. The learned counsel for the appellants refers to the common order passed by the Division Bench of the erstwhile High Court in Writ Petition No.23044 of 2017 and Writ Appeal No.1888 of 2017 dated 04.01.2018 which reads as under:

8. Therefore, the writ petition is allowed, the impugned order is set aside. Now it appears that the Principal Secretary to Government has changed. If it is so, the present incumbent or another incumbent who is the competent to hold the office of the Principal Secretary and who was not the Commissioner, who passed the order dated 08.08.2011, shall deal with the revision of the writ petitioner and dispose it of in accordance with law within a period of three (3) months, from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. Since the writ petitioner had protective orders from this Court till disposal of the revision petition and also since the writ petitioners enjoyed a protective order as against the revisional authority’s order dated 15.05.2017, the petitioner shall have the same protection, until the disposal of the revision.

9. As a consequence, the writ appeal is closed as no further orders are necessary.

Accordingly, pending revision before the Government/2nd appellant, the 1st respondent got protection from reversion from the post of Superintendent.

6. The G.O.Ms.No.888 dated 08.12.2000 issued under Section 35(4) read with Section 153 of the Act (Act No.30 of 1987) deals with the Andhra Prade