IMPORTANT POINTS
High Court doubting validity of Supreme Court decision and taking a different view holding it per incuriam is against all judicial propriety and not permissible.
Law laid down by Supreme Court is law of the land under Article 141 of the Constitution and binding on all courts in India. It is not open to any court in India to take a different view.

JUDGMENT :-

Anil R. Dave, J.

1. Being aggrieved by the judgment delivered by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Appeal No.1683 of 1998 on 14th August, 2002, this appeal has been preferred by the South Central Railway Employees Co-Op. Credit Society Employees' Union.

2. It is necessary to know the circumstances which gave rise to the present litigation, which has put the employees of the appellant-union to undue hardship and long-drawn litigation.

3. The South Central Railway Employees Co-Op. Credit Society (hereinafter referred to as 'the Society'), had framed rules governing service conditions of its employees and the said rules had been approved by the Registrar of Co-op. Societies, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. This Court, in Civil Appeal No.4343 of 1988, had decided that there was no reservation policy for the employees of the Society in the matter of promotion to higher cadre. The said decision had been taken by this Court for the reason that there was a dispute whether the policy of reservation was to be followed only at the stage of recruitment of the employees or it was also to be followed in the matter of giving promotion to the higher cadre. After considering all relevant factors and relevant rules and regulations, this Court had come to a specific conclusion that there was no provision with regard to giving benefit of reservation of any kind to the employees of the society in the matter of their promotion. The said issue had arisen initially for the reason that even in the matter of promotion, the policy with regard to reservation had been followed by the society and some promotions were given on the basis of reservation policy and the said policy was challenged by way of a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and ultimately in the said proceedings, this Court had finally come to a conclusion in Civil Appeal No.4343 of 1998 that in the matter of promotion, policy of reservation was not to be followed and as a consequence thereof, the persons who had been wrongly promoted on the basis of reservation policy had to be reverted.

4. In the aforestated circumstances, so as to correct the mistake which had been committed by the society and to give effect to the judgment delivered in the aforestated appeal, the Society had issued orders of reversion to the employees who had been wrongly promoted. One such order dated 12th June, 1998 was served upon the concerned employees, who had been wrongly promoted on the basis of their caste and creed. The said order dated 12th June, 1998 was challenged by them by filing Writ Petition No.17756 of 1998 in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

5. It is really very strange that the writ petition challenging the aforestated order dated 12th June, 1998 was allowed and the aforestated order was quashed and set aside by the High Court on 6th August, 1998.

6. Being aggrieved by the said judgment of the Single Judge of the High Court, Writ Appeal No.1638 of 1998 had been filed by other employees of the society who had been aggrieved by the wrongful promotions given by the Society on the basis of the reservation policy. The said Writ Appeal had also been dismissed by the Division Bench of the High Court by an order dated 14th August, 2002.

7. The present appeal has been filed by the appellants-employees who are aggrieved by the judgment delivered in Writ Appeal No.1638 of 1998.

8. The learned counsel appearing for the appellants-employees' union had submitted before this Court that the High Court had committed a grave error by reconsidering the issue which had already been decided by this Court. Once this Court had decided in C.A. No.4343 of 1988 that the employees of the Society were not entitled to promotion on the basis of any reservation policy, the High Court could not have come to a different conclusion, when the judgment delivered by this Court in C.A. No.4343 of 1988 was sought to be implemented by issuance of an order dated 12th June, 1998 and the High Court had committ