http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 5  

CASE NO.: Appeal (civil)  4202 of 2003

PETITIONER: A.P.  PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

RESPONDENT: K. SUDHARSHAN REDDY & ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 04//6\001@pVs. Y.T. NAIDU  & ORS. @ July 4, 2006

BENCH: Dr.AR. Lakshmanan & Altamas Kabir

JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T

WITH CIVIL APPEAL No. 4201/2003

ALTAMAS KABIR, J.

       Pursuant to an advertisement No.2/83  published by it,  the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission conducted  recruitment to  Group-II (A) Services and upon completion of  the process of selection, the selected candidates were  appointed  in 1985 itself.  In keeping with GOMS No. 502  dated 26th June, 1976, 5 % weightage marks were awarded to  candidates who had obtained their basic qualifications  through Telugu medium.  The same was challenged before the  Andhra Pradesh High Court by Non-Telugu Medium   candidates in a Writ Petition, being No. 2041/1981, which was  allowed by the learned Single Judge  by  his judgment  dated   7th June, 1981.  By the said judgment and order the learned  Single Judge quashed  the aforesaid  Government Order on  the ground that it was discriminatory  and violative of Articles   14 and 16 of the  Constitution.         Two Writ  Appeals  were filed from the  order of the  learned  Single Judge, one by the State of Andhra Pradesh and  the other by  the Telugu Medium candidates.  Both the Writ  Appeals  were heard analogously   by a Division Bench of the  Andhra Pradesh High Court which by its  judgment and order  dated 15th September, 1981 allowed he Writ Appeals and   upheld the Government Orders whereby 5 % weightage in total  marks was given to Telugu Medium candidates, upon  holding  that the same did not violate Articles 14 and 16  of the  Constitution.   Consequently, the  Writ Petition filed by the  Non-Telugu Medium Candidates was dismissed.  The same  resulted in the filing   of Civil Appeal No.2914/1981 ( V.N.  Sunanda Reddy & Ors. vs. State of Anhdra Pradesh & Ors.) in  this Court.  Subsequently, the State of Andhra  Pradesh  issued a more comprehensive  Government Order No.603  dated 18th November, 1981 and extended 5 % weightage  to all   Telugu Medium Students  who were candidates for  recruitment by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service  Commission to any service in the State of Andhra Pradesh.   The statutory rules framed  in terms of  the said Government  Order were once again challenged by Non-Telugu Medium  candidates before the Andhra Pradesh  Administrative

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 5  

Tribunal at Hyderabad.  The Tribunal by its order dated  18th  January, 1994, allowed the said application filed by the Non- Telugu  Medium candidates upon  holding.  as was done in the  earlier matter, that the  said  Government Order was violative  of Articles 14 and  16 of the Constitution.  As will be apparent,  the view taken by the Tribunal was contrary to the decision of  the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and it  resulted in a Special Leave Petition being (Civil) No.  6395/1994 filed by the Telugu Medium candidates and by the  State of Andhra Pradesh by way of Special Leave Petition ) No.  13446/1994.  As the question involved in  both the matters   was the same, they were taken up together  for hearing  by  this Court  and were disposed of  by a common judgment  dated  25th January, 1995.          Although, at the time of the hearing of the appeals, it was  sought to be  urged on behalf of the State that the weightage  had been given in the interest of the State to enable it  to  recruit persons who are better  acquainted with Telugu   language, which was the  official language of the State, such a  stand was rejected and it was held that the  Division Bench  of  the Andhra Pradesh High Court was not right  when it  accepted such view.  This Court held further that the Division  Bench  was  not justified  in  upsetting the views expressed by  the learned Single Judge.         While disposing of the said appeals, this Court took note  of a submission made on behalf  of  Telugu Medium students  that  in the event  the weightage given to them in recruitment  was found  to be  faulty, those  Telugu Medium candidates  who had already  been  appointed on the basis of such  weightage should not be disturbed and it was also submitted  that those Telugu Medium students  whose appointments  could not be made   on account of pendency of  the  proceedings should be given  one further chance  to compete  for future recruitment in the post in question and  for that  purpose suitable age relaxation may be made in their case.   Finding such submission to be reasonable, this Court  observed and directed as follows:-

       "...In our view this request is  quite  reasonable and deserves to be granted.   We, therefore, direct that despite our  finding that 5 percent weightage given to  the Telugu  medium graduates in the  present case is  violative of Articles 14  and 16 (1) of the Constitution, those   Telugu medium graduates who have  already been appointed on the strength of  such weightage and who are  working on  their concerned posts should  not  be  disturbed and their  appointments will  not be adversely affected by the present  judgment.  On the other hand,   those  Telugu medium  graduates who have  been selected on the strength of the  weightage but to  whom actual  appointments have not been given on  account of pendency of the present   proceedings should be given a chance to  compete for such posts as and when  future  recruitment to such posts  is  resorted to and for that purpose only  once suitable age relaxation may be given  to them in case they are otherwise found  suitable  on merits to be appointed in  such future direct recruitment to such

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 5  

posts.  In other words, only on account of  the fact that they have  become age  barred, they should not be denied  appointments on the strength of their  meritorious performance.  This will be by  way of only one time concession about  age relaxation."

       Consequently, Civil Appeal No. 2914/1981 was allowed,  the judgment and order  of the Division Bench was set aside   and the decision of the learned Single Judge was  restored and  the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP ) Nos. 6395 & 13446/1994  were dismissed and the judgment and order of the Andhra  Pradesh Administrative Tribunal at Hyderabad in O.A.No.  2142/1993 was confirmed. Despite the views expressed by this Court in the above  appeals, the matter was not allowed to rest and one K.  Sudharshan Reddy,  the respondent No.1 before us in Civil  Appeal No.4202/203 and Sri Y.T. Naidu, who is respondent  No.1 before us  in Civil Appeal No.4201/2003, filed separate  applications before the Andhra Pradesh  Administrative  Tribunal, being O.A.No.6141/1995 and O.A.No.2470/2001,  under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal  Act, 1985,  complaining that the respondents had  acted in a manner  contrary  to law by giving the advantage of weightage  marks   while preparing  the merit list for preparation of the seniority  list in view of the aforesaid  judgment  of this Court.  It was  the contention of the said applicants that the direction that  the services of those Telugu Medium candidates who had been  appointed on account of the weightage given should not be  disturbed, did not include any  condition that such candidates  were to be given the benefit of weightage of 5 % of the  total  marks also for the purpose of computing seniority.  In other  words,  it was sought to be contended that the protection given  by the aforesaid judgment of this Court  to Telugu Medium  students, who had already been selected with the benefit of  weightage, was only  to the extent of their appointment and  that for their ranking in the merit list, the additional 5%  marks could not be counted.    The said argument advanced on behalf of the said two  respondents  found favour with the  Tribunal which was  persuaded to hold that the protection afforded to the Telugu  Medium candidates did not extend to the counting of such  weightage for the purpose of determining  seniority in the  cadre.  The learned Tribunal, therefore, directed the  Government to take follow up action to reduce the  weightage  marks given to the Telugu Medium candidates  and to prepare  the new ranking list and to fix the seniority on the basis  thereof.   Both the  Original Applications were disposed of  by the  Tribunal by its aforesaid judgment and order dated 23rd May,  2001, which  was challenged before the  Andhra Pradesh High  Court  by way of Writ Petitions  Nos. 16321/1001 and  16283/2001.  Both the Writ Petitions were dismissed by  identical orders with the observation that the Tribunal had  merely followed  the judgment of this Court and the impugned  order did not, therefore, suffer from any legal infirmity.  These  two appeals  before us have been filed by the Andhra Pradesh  Public Service Commission against the orders passed in the  said Writ Petitions and since they involve common questions  of law and fact, the same have been taken up together  for  hearing and disposal. Appearing  for the appellant-Commission, Mr. Ranjit  Kumar, learned Senior advocate, took us through the relevant

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 5  

portions of the directions given by this Court which have been   quoted hereinbefore  and tried to explain the true meaning  and purport thereof,  which according to him, had been   completely misunderstood both by the Tribunal, as also the  Andhra Pradesh High Court.  Mr. Kumar emphasized on the  use of the expression "those Telugu Medium Graduates who  have already  been appointed on the strength of such  weightage and who are working on their concerned posts  should not be disturbed and their appointments will not be  adversely affected by the present judgment." (underlining by  us).  He emphasized that the said direction could  be broken   up into three parts in order to understand and appreciate   their true meaning and purport.  It was  submitted that this  Court included  in the scope of its order  Telugu Medium  candidates who had already been appointed  on the strength   of the weightage given.   Secondly, those persons who were  working on their concerned posts should not be disturbed and  thirdly  their appointments were not to be adversely affected.   Mr. Kumar added that a conscious distinction had been made  by the Court in respect of  those Telugu Medium graduates  who had been selected on the strength of the weightage but to  whom actual appointments had not been given.   Mr. Kumar  submitted that in their case the Court directed that they  should be given a chance to compete for such posts when  future recruitment  to such posts was required and for that  purpose only once suitable age relaxation could be given to  them in case they were otherwise  found suitable on merit to  be appointed in future to such posts. In addition to  his  aforesaid submission on the merits of  the  views expressed by the  Tribunal  and the Division Bench   of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Mr. Kumar also urged that   if the judgment and order of the Tribunal and the High Court  were allowed to stand, it would result in unsettling of the  entire  seniority position which prevailed in 1981 in different  services through out the State and the same would lead  to a  chaotic situation.  It was submitted that such an action could  hardly be  undertaken  at such a distant point of time. In support of his said submission, Mr. Kumar referred to  the decision of this Court in the case  of  Prabodh Verma and  Ors. vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors.,  (1984) 4 SCC 251,  wherein in paragraph 28   such a scenario has been  considered, discussed and dilated upon. Reference was also made to a decision of this Court in  the case  of  Arun Tewari and Ors. vs. Zila Mansavi Shikshak  Sangh and Ors., (1998) 2 SCC  332, wherein with reference to  the aforesaid case, similar  views have been expressed. Mr. M.N. Rao, learned senior advocate, who  appeared for  the respondent No1. in both the matters, on the other hand,  strongly supported the view expressed by the  Tribunal. Mr. Rao submitted that having held that the Government  Orders granting weightage of 5%  marks  to  Telugu Medium  candidates  was  violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the  Constitution, it could never have been the intention of this  Court to  perpetuate  such arbitrariness and all that was  protected by this Court’s order were the appointments  which  had been made in favour of such Telugu Medium  candidates   who had been given the  benefit of weightage in terms of  the  concerned Government Orders.  According to Mr. Rao, to hold  otherwise would be to negate the very decision of this Hon’ble  Court  in the earlier matter. It was further  urged that the revision of the seniority  list  could always be done at any stage since all the required  particulars were available in the office of the concerned  authorities. Referring to the decision of this Court in the case of Ajit

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 5  

Singh and Ors.(II)  vs.  State of Punjab and Ors.,  (1999) 7 SCC  209, Mr. Rao submitted that while discussing  "the catch up  role", it was  observed that there should not be  any difficulty  in amending the seniority list since the seniority list  at a  particular level would have to be amended only when the   senior general candidates reach the said level. Mr. Rao urged that this Court had held that such  weightage was arbitrary and that the addition of 40 marks  which represented 5 % of the total aggregate marks would give  the Telugu Medium candidates, a strong advantage over  candidates from other mediums, particularly when   competition was fierce and even  one  mark could tilt the  decision in favour of a  candidate. Having carefully considered the submissions made on  behalf of the respective parties, we are unable to agree with  the submissions advanced by Mr. Rao since in our view, after  having held  the impugned Government Order to be violative of  Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, it was the intention of  this Court to maintain the status quo as it existed with regard  to the appointments already made where certain candidates  had already been given the benefit of  weightage.  We  are  inclined to agree with  Mr. Ranjit Kumar  that the Court  intended to  protect not only the appointment of such  candidates but also  all  their service conditions, which   included  their  right to seniority as had accrued to them at  the time of their initial appointment.   In our view, the said  intention of this Court was quite clear from the language used.  If this Court had intended that the weightage given to the  concerned candidates was not to count towards their position  in the merit list, it would have said so explicitly.  On the other  hand, while mentioning the fact of their appointment on the  strength of such weightage this Court went on to say that  such candidates would not be adversely affected by the  judgment.  In other words, the decision rendered in the  judgment would not adversely affect their existing service  conditions.                                        Furthermore, the question of seniority was never in  question prior to the decision of this Court in Civil Appeal   No.2914/1981    decided on 25th January, 1995. Apart from the above, the other submission of Mr. Ranjit  Kumar  regarding  the difficulty  of unsettling the settled  position after all these years  cannot also be  lightly brushed  aside. For the reasons aforesaid, the appeals  must succeed and  are allowed.  The judgment and orders of the Andhra Pradesh  High Court appealed against are hereby set aside along with  the judgment and order dated 23rd May, 2001 passed by the  Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal passed in   O.A.Nos.6141/1995 and  2470/2001.  There will be no order as to costs.