- (1.) Promotee Engineers of the Roads and Buildings Wing of the Andhra Pradesh Engineering Service are the petitioners in this application under Article 32 of the Constitution and challenge is to the government circular of 12/08/1988 (Annexure A) fixing the guideline for the drawing up of the seniority list pursuant to a direction issued by this court in a batch of writ petitions, decision whereof is reported in K. Siva Reddy v. State of A. P.
(2.) While petitioners are promotees, the respondents are direct recruits. Petitioners allege that they had put in continuous service of 6-7 years by 1982 and their services having been regularised in the post ofdeputy Executive Engineer in the year 1974-75, direct recruits appointed in the year 1982 cannot under any law be placed above them.
(3.) As noticed in Siva Reddy case , substantive vacancies in the category of Assistant Engineers had to be filled up from two sources - 37 1/2 per cent by direct recruitment and the remaining 62 1/2 per cent by transfer of Supervisors and Draughtsmen and by promotion of Junior Engineers. Direct recruits had complained that notwithstanding this prescription, there had been no recruitment of Assistant Engineers and the promotees from the other two modes had come into the cadre far in excess of the limit provided by the Rules. The Chief Engineer by his order dated 8/06/1984 regularised the temporary service of promotees of the years 1972-73, 1973-74 and 1974-75 in the cadre of Assistant Engineers (later designated as Deputy Executive Engineers). They had, therefore, asked for quashing of the regularisation and drawing up of a seniority list on the basis of the ratio fixed under Rule 3 (1 of the Special Rules. This court in paragraph 5 of the judgment stated "Reopening of the question of inter se seniority on the basis of non-enforcement of the rules from the very beginning may create hardship and that would be difficult to mitigate but we see no justification as to why the benefit of the scheme under the rules should not be made available to direct recruits at least from 1982. When the State government by rules duly framed prescribed the method of recruitment and put the scheme into operation it had the obligation to comply with it. The explanation offered by the State government for non-compliance of the requirements of the rules does not at all impress us. We, therefore, direct that as on December 31, 1982, the State government must ascertain the exact substantive vacancies in the category of Assistant Engineers in the service. On the basis that 37 1/2 per cent of such vacancies were to be filled up by direct recruitment, the position should be worked out. Promotees should be confined to 62 1/2 per cent of the substantive vacancies and in regard to 37 1/2 per cent of the vacancies the shortfall should be filled up by direct recruitment. General rules shall not be applied to the posts within the limits of 37 1/2 per cent of the substantive vacancies and even if promotees are placed in those posts, no seniority shall be counted. The State government shall take steps to make recruitment of the shortfall in the direct recruitment vacancies within the limit of 37 1/2 per cent of the total substantive vacancies up to 31/12/1987 within four months from today by following the normal method of recruitment for direct recruits. The seniority list in the cadre of Assistant Engineers shall be redrawn up, as directed by the tribunal, by the end of September 1988, keeping the directions referred to above in view. "with a view to implementing this direction the State government came out with the impugned order dated 12/08/1988 marked Annx. 'a'.;