Telangana High Court
Kampati Sathyanarayana vs The State Of Telangana And 3 Others on 21 May, 2026
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA
AT HYDERABAD
THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE T. MADHAVI DEVI
WRIT PETITION NO.24371 OF 2022
AND
WRIT PETITION NO.24818 OF 2022
DATED : 21.05.2026
W.P.NO.24371 OF 2022
Between:
Kampati Sathyanarayana and others
... Petitioners
AND
The State of Telangana, rep. by its
Principal Secretary, Revenue Dept.,
T.S.Secretariat, Hyderabad and others
... Respondents
COMMON ORDER
In both these Writ Petitions, the petitioners were all appointed as Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs) as per T.S. Village Revenue Assistants Service Rules, 2005 issued under the proviso to Article 309 W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 2 of the Constitution of India. They were all appointed after following the due process during the years 2006 to 2010 and as per Rule 5 of the said Rules, the Tahsildar shall be the appointing authority.
2. It is submitted by the petitioners that on 20.06.2020, final seniority list of Village Revenue Assistants of the erstwhile Kothagudem Division was prepared after inviting objections to the provisional seniority list and therefore, the said list has become final. The names of the petitioners were shown in the said list and thereafter, the Unit Head, i.e., Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), who is competent to effect promotions to the post of Office Subordinate in the Revenue Division, addressed a letter to the District Collector, Bhadradri Kothagudem on 21.07.2020 for permission to effect promotions in respect of Paloncha Revenue Division and Kothagudem Revenue Divsion. On 22.09.2021, the District Collector, Bhadradri Kothagudem replied stating that since the RDO is the Unit Officer, he shall take further action and accordingly, the RDO after taking into consideration the vacancy position, issued promotion orders on 01.10.2021 in Rc.NoA/379/2019-I to 27 Village Revenue Assistants (which included the petitioners) as Office Subordinates and Chainmen and the petitioners and others were asked to report before the RDO, Mahabubabad. It W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 3 appears that the RDO, Mahabubabad did not accept the petitioners reporting to duty. It is submitted that from October, 2021 to 06.02.2022 the petitioners continued as Office Subordinates and Chainmen. Thereafter, the District Collector, Bhgadradri Kothagudem cancelled the promotion orders on 06.02.2022 unilaterally without any notice. Thereafter, on 01.04.2022, show-cause notices were issued to all the petitioners with same contents giving the same reasons which were mentioned in the earlier impugned orders and required the petitioners to submit their replies for cancellation of the promotion orders. The petitioners were also required to appear before the 2nd respondent on 04.04.2022 and submit their replies. Challenging the orders of cancellation of promotions dt. 06.02.2022 and also the final proceedings of the 2nd respondent dt.27.05.2022, these two Writ Petitions are filed.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has drawn the attention of this Court to the final seniority list filed along with the Writ Petitions to demonstrate that the names of the petitioners are mentioned in the said final seniority list dt.20.06.2020 and submitted that promotions have been given in accordance with the said seniority list. He submitted that without giving any notice to the petitioners, the orders dt.06.02.2022 were passed cancelling the promotions and thereafter, a show-cause W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 4 notice dt.01.04.2022 was issued and without considering the explanations/submissions of the petitioners in proper perspective, the final orders dt.27.05.2022 were passed. Therefore, according to him, the respondents are not right in cancelling the promotions granted to the petitioners herein.
4. Respondent No.2 has filed counter affidavit along with stay vacate petition in I.A.No.4 of 2022. It is stated that after preparation of final seniority list on 20.06.2020, there was a gap of more than one year for issuance of promotions on 01.10.2021 which was contrary to the Rules and therefore, some of the VRAs of Kothagudem Division have complained against the process of issuance of promotions and one of the complaints of VRAs was that (1) promotions were given to 27 members of Kothagudem Division and 5 members of disbanded Paloncha Division, without publishing final seniority list and that published list pertains to the year 2019 and no objections were called for; and (2) that during the promotions, VRAs of one Division have been allotted to another Division. It is stated that as per Rule 6(b) of the A.P. State and Subordinate Service Rules, the panel of candidates so prepared shall be reviewed after a period of 6 months reckoned from the date of approval of the panel, for the purpose of considering the case of such other W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 5 persons whose names were not included in the panel prepared earlier for not passing the prescribed tests or for not having special qualifications prescribed under the rules, if they have subsequently passed those tests or acquired the said qualifications and are otherwise found suitable for inclusion in the panel of the year. Further, Rule 6(i) of the A.P. State and Subordinate Service Rules also provides that for non-selection posts referred to in sub-rule (b) of Rule 5, the appointing authority shall prepare a list of eligible employees every year, i.e., from 1st September of the year to 31st August of the succeeding year after considering the record sheet and the qualifications prescribed for the said post in the relevant Special Rules for promotion to next higher category of non- selection post. Therefore, according to the respondents, these rules were not followed by the authorities and on the basis of the seniority list prepared one year prior to the date of promotion, the promotions ought not to have been granted. Therefore, the promotion orders have been cancelled vide orders dt.06.02.2022. It is submitted that the said orders have been challenged by the petitioners herein in W.P.No.7887 of 2022 and this Court had remitted the matter for denovo consideration in accordance with law and the petitioners were entitled to continue in the existing post till the 2nd respondent initiates proceedings afresh and W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 6 passes orders thereon. It is submitted that pursuant to the same, show- cause notices were issued to the petitioners and after considering their objections, the final orders dt.27.05.2022 have been passed and therefore, it is prayed that the Writ Petitions be dismissed.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners has placed reliance upon the Andhra Pradesh Village Revenue Assistants Service Rules, 2005 to submit that the Revenue Divisional Officer is the Unit Officer and that he is authorised to pass promotion orders.
6. Having regard to the rival contentions and the material on record, this Court finds that the only reason for cancellation of the promotions is that the promotions are on the basis of the seniority list prepared on 20.06.2020 and the promotions were given on 01.10.2021 in the subsequent panel year without drawing the seniority list of eligible candidates for promotion in the current panel year. Rule 6(b) of the Andhra Pradesh State and Subordinate Service Rules clearly provides for preparation of the panel every year as on 1st of September and in this case, the said procedure has not been followed and therefore, when the petitioners had challenged the same before this Court in W.P.No.7887 of 2022, the matter was remanded to the panel of authorities for W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 7 reconsideration of the matter and the petitioners were directed to be continued in the promoted posts and this Court, vide interim order dt.06.06.2022, had directed that since the petitioners were not relieved from the present post, there shall be interim suspension of the impugned order for a period of three weeks and the said interim order has been extended from time to time.
7. This Court observes that in complying with the directions of this Court in W.P.No.7887 of 2022, the respondents have called for the objections of the petitioners and thereafter, have cancelled the promotions vide orders dt.27.05.2022 as the promotions were not in accordance with the Rules. Except stating that the cancellation of promotions was without any notice to the petitioners, there are no other grounds raised by the petitioners. Since the cancellation of promotions, vide orders dt.27.05.2022, is after following the principles of natural justice and after considering the objections of the petitioners, this Court does not find any merit in the Writ Petitions.
8. The Writ Petitions are accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs.
W.P.Nos.24371 & 24818 of 2022 8
9. Pending miscellaneous petitions, if any, in these Writ Petitions shall also stand dismissed.
___________________________ JUSTICE T. MADHAVI DEVI Date: 21.05.2026 Svv