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J U D G M E N T WITH CIVIL APPEAL No.4908 OF 1999.

K. V. N. Acharyulu & Others Versus A.P. State Road TransportCorporation KAPADIA, J.

The civil appeals herein raise a common point of law i.e. fitment of the promotees in the integrated seniority list. The posts of Assistant Traffic Manager (for short "ATM) and Assistant Mechanical Engineer (for short "AME) are Class-I Junior Scale Officers posts. It is the case of the appellants that for several years, due to ban on recruitment, promotions were made from lower feeder posts even in excess of the ratio of 1:1 under A.P. State Road Transport Corporation Employees (Recruitment) Regulations, 1966 (hereinafter referred to as "the recruitment regulations). It is the case of the appellants that whenever direct recruitment was not possible within a short period and when administrative exigencies warranted the filling of posts, like the one in the instant case, promotions were made either on ad hoc or on temporary basis and in course of time they were regularized. M. Subba Reddy, appellant herein, was appointed as a Traffic Apprentice on 10.8.1971 in the Corporation. He was promoted temporarily on 31.1.1983 as ATM vide Office Order dated 10.1.1983 and regularized on 27.12.1986 vide order dated 9.9.1988. He was confirmed on 1.4.1987 as ATM. It is the case of the appellants that while they were senior to direct recruits, who entered the above posts in 1988, 1990 etc., in the impugned integrated seniority list dated 10.11.1994, they have been placed below the direct recruits. The appellants contend that when their promotions were regularized, the direct recruits were not even born on the cadre of ATMs/AMEs and, therefore, there was no reason for placing them below the direct recruits. Per contra, it is the case of direct recruits that the integrated seniority list is in consonance with the quota rule of 1:1 under the statutory rules mentioned supra.