The government cannot alter established seniority rights or conditions of service without due process and must adhere to principles of natural justice.

JUDGMENT

As the issue involved in all the writ petitions is one and the same, and therefore, they are being taken up for hearing as well as disposed of by way of this common order.

2. The main grievance of the petitioners in all these writ petitions is for declaring the G.O. Ms. No.71, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, dated 05.10.2021, issued by the 1st respondent, as illegal and arbitrary and consequently to set aside the said G.O.

3. Since the facts in all the writ petitions are similar and identical, therefore WP No.25472 of 2021 is taken as lead case, and the facts therein hereinafter will be referred to for convenience.

4. Brief facts of the case are that, the main dispute in this WP No.24572 of 2021 is about seniority between two groups of Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) of the Panchayat Raj Engineering Service of the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Department. The petitioners herein represent the group of Engineering Graduates, who were drafted by the Employment Exchange on the question of the Government for appointment to the post of AEE. They were first appointed as Work Inspectors in the year 1991 and later appointed as AEEs in the year 1994 and their services were regularized in the year 2005 and they were directed to be placed in the seniority list just below the last AEE directly recruited through APPSC prior to 1994.

Further, the un-official respondents herein were appointed in the year 1997 as AEEs pursuant to a notification of 1995 and selected by APPSC. They want the petitioners' group to forego their entire service of 11 years and become their juniors. Questioning the Government orders of regularization and fixation of seniority, the un-official respondents have filed ?? No.5018/2006 and Batch before the Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad, which were dismissed on 03.02.2011. Aggrieved by the same, they preferred, WP No.4439/2011 and Batch before the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad. While the issue is pending adjudication, the unofficial respondents stealthily, behind the back of the petitioners, procured a Government Order canceling the earlier orders and upsetting the entire situation.

It is stated that the 1st respondent Government took up construction of school buildings as part of the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project with the financial assistance of the Government of United Kingdom in 1990. For the purposes of the said project, the 1st respondent, issued G.O. Ms. No.89 dated 09.02.1990. Meanwhile, the 1st respondent, had taken up "Cyclone Reconstruction Project" with the financial aid of the World Bank. To execute the said project, the 1st respondent issued G.O. Ms. No.540 dated 30.08.1990, which provided for, among other things, sanctioning of 306 posts of AEEs. Due to there was dearth of AEEs in the Panchayat Raj Department, the Employment Exchange was requisitioned to sponsor candidates having Engineering and other equivalent Degrees for the purpose of filing up of the said posts of AEEs. The Employment Exchange in turn sponsored the names of the petitioners herein and several others to the office of the Engineer-inChief, Panchayat Raj Engineering Department. At this juncture, certain existing employees of the Panchayat Raj Department of the cadre of Work