THE HON’ BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION Nos.24387, 28503 and 29842 of 2021 AND WRIT PETITION No.17989 of 2022

COMMON ORDER:

1. WRIT PETITION No.17989 of 2022 The petitioner is a Reserved Sub-Inspector (RSI) with the 13th Battalion of the Telangana State Special Police. He was appointed as a Stipendiary Trainee Cadet for the post of Police Constable (PC), and placed in the pay scale of Rs. 2990-5810 per orders dated 25.08.1999. On 15.12.2000, the Commandant of the 13th Battalion issued proceedings that converted 34 PCs, including Sri P. Krishna Reddy (now at Serial No. 11) and Sri M. Pasha (at Serial No. 28), who had provided their consent, into the Motor Transport (MT) group, re-designating them as PC(Driver) under the special rules framed vide G.O.Ms.No.69 dated 07.04.1997. Petitioner was promoted to Head Constable (HC) on 15.09.2003. He was further promoted to Assistant Reserved Sub-Inspector (ARSI) on 28.04.2011, and finally to his current rank of Reserved Sub-Inspector (RSI) on 28.08.2017, with his probation in this highest category also being declared. His entire career path, he asserts, has been within the general duty stream, distinct from the specialist MT trade.

1.1 The dispute arose on 10.12.2021 when the petitioner was issued a show-cause notice. This notice proposed assigning notional seniority in the rank of HC to Sri P. Krishna Reddy, a PC(Driver) in the MT group, effective from 05.10.2003—a date that would make him senior to the petitioner, who was promoted to HC on 15.09.2003. The notice justified this review by stating that post the State's bifurcation, it was discovered that promotions for specialist trades personnel like drivers had been incorrectly handled; they were only considered for vacancies within their specialist groups while being overlooked for general duty promotions, contrary to the provisions of G.O.Ms.No.85 dated 28.04.1997. The petitioner states that the respondent countered his objections by alleging that the Battalion had wrongly presumed it had separate groups and that this error necessitated a corrective measure to place specialists like Sri P.

Krishna Reddy on par with their general duty juniors.

1.2 In a detailed response dated 04.01.2022, the petitioner submitted his objections, requesting the cancellation of the proposed notional seniority for Sri P. Krishna Reddy. However, the Commandant of the 13th Battalion, TSSP, rejected his plea in a memo dated 13.01.2022, deeming his objections "not tenable" based on relevant Government orders. The petitioner alleges this rejection was made without any meaningful application of mind to the specific legal and factual arguments he raised.

1.3 This petitioner contends that the special rules of 1997 clearly delineate that while specialists are eligible for promotion in both their trade and general duty, the creation of a combined seniority list is explicitly reserved for promotions to RSI under Note A(ii) of Rule-3, not for the lower rank of HC. It is contended that the attempt to apply this RSI-level rule to an HC-level seniority review is a misapplication of the law, undertaken at an unreasonable length of time after the petitioner's own promotions have long been settled, thereby prejudicing his vested rights.

2. A counter affidavit is filed bythe 6^th respondent-Md. Pasha (ARSI) essentially contending that the impugned action to grant notional seniority to the late Sri P. Krishna Reddy is not an error but a lawful and necessary correction of a long-standingadministrative injustice. This corrective measure, sanctioned by the Government vide G.O. Rt No. 1856 dated 14.10.2021, is an effort to rectify past promotions that erroneously bypassed senior personnel in specialist groups, like the Motor Transport (MT) wing, in favor of their juniors in the General Duty (GD) line.

2.1 It is contended that both 6^th respondent and the late Sri P.

Krishna Reddy were appointed as Police Constables in the 13th Battalion on 01.09.1999, pursuant to order C.