Summary
The Supreme Court held that allocation of employees of the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation is governed by Section 82 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, not Section 77, which applies to State government employees. Under the Board's Agenda Note framed under Section 82, regionally recruited Class III and IV employees belong to the corporation in whose region they were recruited, so the respondents' repatriation to their parent zones in Telangana was valid and the High Court's contrary judgment was set aside.
Issues
- Whether the allocation of employees of a State road transport corporation upon bifurcation is governed by Section 77 or Section 82 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
- Whether Class III and IV employees recruited in Telangana zones but serving on deputation in Andhra Pradesh zones on the appointed date stood permanently allocated to APSRTC, or were validly repatriated to their parent zones under TSRTC.
Provisions considered
- Section 77(2), third proviso, Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014The High Court had applied by analogy the proviso deeming local, district, zonal and multi-zonal cadre employees allotted to the successor State. The Supreme Court held that Section 77 applies to State government employees and the High Court erred in relying on it for corporation employees. (¶¶ 7, 10, 11, 14)
- Section 82, Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014Read as requiring employees of State public sector undertakings and corporations to continue for one year while the corporate body determines the modalities for distributing personnel between the successor States; the Board's Agenda Note dated 16.08.2017 was the modality so determined and governed the respondents. (¶¶ 10, 11, 13, 14)
- Article 371D, Constitution of IndiaNoted as the basis, with the Presidential Order, of the zones in which the respondents were originally appointed. (¶ 2.2)
Held
- Section 77 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 applies to State government employees; the allocation of employees of State public sector undertakings and corporations is governed by Section 82, under which the corporation itself determines the modalities for distributing its personnel between the successor States. (¶ 11)
- The Board's Agenda Note dated 16.08.2017, approved on 24.08.2017, determined under Section 82 that Class III and IV employees recruited at the regional level belong to the corporation in which their region falls after bifurcation. As the respondents were admittedly recruited at the regional level in regions now in Telangana, they continue in those regions under TSRTC. (¶¶ 11, 12, 13)
- The respondents' argument that modalities under Section 82 had not been settled for Class III and IV employees was rejected in light of the Agenda Note, the applicability of Section 82 being undisputed; the Agenda Note and its approval were also not challenged in the writ petition. (¶¶ 14, 15)
- Deputationists who were never absorbed in the deputation posts, and whose seniority continued in their parent zones, could not be treated as permanently allocated to the deputation posts. The High Court also overlooked its own interim order under which the respondents had already been repatriated to their parent cadre. (¶¶ 15, 16)
Result
Appeals allowed; the Division Bench judgment set aside and the writ petitions challenging the repatriation orders dismissed; no order as to costs.