ORDER :

M.S. Ramachandra Rao, J.

The petitioners in these Writ Petitions had been appointed in the Office of the Directorate of Insurance in the composite State of Andhra Pradesh initially and are currently holding posts of Deputy Directors of Insurance in the State of Telangana.

2. The composite State of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated into the new State of Telangana and the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh with effect from 02.06.2014 under the A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014 (for short ‘the Act’). At that time, the petitioners in these three Writ Petitions were working in the cadre of Assistant Director.

3. Under Section 77 of the Act, it is necessary to allocate the staff to either of the States on the basis of Guidelines dt.29.10.2014 issued by the Union of India under Section 80(2) of the Act.

4. On instructions issued by the Cadre Controlling Authority, i.e., the State of Andhra Pradesh, GA (SR) Department, the Director of Insurance, Hyderabad had furnished updated seniority lists of all categories of employees as on 01.06.2014.

5. Options were then called for from allocable employees of the Directorate of Insurance Department stipulating a two week period for submitting options through a Notification No.21105-C-SR1-A1-2014-3, GA (SR) Department dt.23.03.2015.

6. Several employees including the petitioners uploaded their options indicating their preferred State for the purpose of final allocation.

7. Tentative allocations were notified through a Notification No.21105-C/SR1/A1/2014-4 dt.15.05.2015 and the petitioners were tentatively allocated to State of Telangana. Subsequently even final allocation list was notified vide order No.17(2)/2015 in F.No.29/30/2015-SR(S) dt.19.11.2015.

Contentions of petitioners

8. Petitioners contend that there was no final seniority list prepared in the various categories of employees in the office of the Directorate of Insurance of the composite State of Andhra Pradesh including that of Assistant Directors; that only a provisional seniority list was prepared based on the date of reporting to duties and communicated to the State Reorganisation Committee; and based on such provisional seniority alone, illegally allocations were made of the staff between the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

9. Petitioners rely on a Memo No.34/ADMN/A3/2016-2017 dt.05.03.2018 issued by the Directorate of Insurance, Government of Telangana and also a Memo No.1027/168/A2/ADMN.1/2016 dt.31.01.2019 passed by the Government of Telangana, Finance (ADMN.1) Department dt.31.01.2019 in support of the above plea.

10. According to them, it was incumbent on the part of the State of Andhra Pradesh to prepare a final seniority list of staff in each cadre as on 02.06.2014 and communicate it to the employees; then invite options from the employees of the Directorate of Insurance of the composite State of Andhra Pradesh; make permanent allocation on the basis of options giving due weight to seniority as per the Guidelines issued by the Union of India in that regard on 29.10.2014. They contend that an ad hoc or provisional seniority list could not have been adopted and acted upon for the purpose of final allocation of employees between the two States.

11. In W.P.No.10100 of 2019, the petitioner seeks a direction to the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Union of India, the Director of Insurance, State of Telangana and the State of A.P. represented by its Principal Secretary, General Administration (SR-1) Department, Secretariat, Amaravati, Guntur District to review and revise the allocations made on the basis of provisional seniority list in so far as Assistant Directors working in the Insurance Department communicated vide G.O.Ms.No.180, General Administration (SR-1) Department, dt.05.12.2015 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and representations made by the petitioner therein on 18.03.2019 to the Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, General Administration (SR-1) Department, Secretariat, Amaravati, Guntur Distric