- (1.) The A. P. State Electricity Board (the Board) issued an order dated 5/8/1981 which reads as under: "personnel SERVICES Dated BPMs No. 664 5/08/1981read the following: (7 Bpms No. 173, dated 24/4/1975. The proposal to grant exemption from passing the departmental tests to the Lower Division Clerks, Typists/stenotypists and Upper Division Clerks, who have rendered long service in the same post, who are not covered by the provisions of BP cited, for promotion to next higher category has been under consideration of the Board for some time past. (2 After a careful consideration, the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board directs that the Lower Division Clerks, Typists/stenotypists and Upper Division Clerks, who have good record of service and completed 15 years of service in the same post, shall be exempted from passing the tests prescribed in the A. P. State Electricity Board Service Regulations, Part III as a precondition for promotion to the next higher posts of UD Clerk and Accountant/ Superintendent, respectively. "
(2.) The appellants were given relaxation from passing the test in terms of the above-quoted order. T. A. Ramasastry and various other similarly situated persons challenged the order granting relaxation to the appellants from passing the test. Alearned Single Judge of the High court dismissed the writ petition. The Appellate bench, however, reversed the findings of the learned Single Judge and quashed the relaxation granted to the appellants and also set aside Order No. 664 quoted above.
(3.) Regulation 41 of the A. P. State Electricity Board Service Regulations (the Regulations) which permits the Board to grant relaxation is as under: "41.Relaxation of Regulations by the Board.-No regulation made in exercise of the powers conferred by Ss. (c) of Section 79 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948 shall be construed to limit or abridge the power of the Board to deal with the case of any person serving under the Board in such manner as may appear to it to be just and equitable: Provided that, where any such regulation is applicable to the case of any person or a class of persons, the cases shall not be dealt with in any manner less favourable to the person or class of persons than that provided by that regulation. ";