Supreme Court Upholds Repatriation Orders By APSRTC Relegating Employees To Their Parental Cadres In TSRTC
The Supreme Court had upheld the repatriation order by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRC) relegating the employees to their parental cadres in Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC)
The issue concerned the repatriation of Class III and IV employees, who were temporarily deputed to zones falling within the residual State of Andhra Pradesh following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (the Act).
A Bench of Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Pankaj Mithal observed, “The High Court has incorrectly relied on Section 77 of the Act and has in fact failed to notice Section 82 and the follow-up action taken thereunder. The High Court also ignored the correct enunciation of the applicable law in the order dated 18.04.2018, whereunder the respondents were directed to report at their parental zones as per the guidelines.”
Senior Advocate Gourab Banerji represented the appellants, while GVR Choudhary appeared for the respondents.
The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana came into effect in 2014, under the Act. Following this, the APSRTC was also split, giving rise to TSRTC. Class III and IV employees, such as drivers, conductors, and shramiks, originally appointed in the Telangana regions, were temporarily deputed to Andhra Pradesh zones pending the finalisation of guidelines for permanent allocation between the two state corporations.
In 2017, APSRTC issued a notification repatriating employees to their parent zones of appointment under TSRTC. The same was challenged by the employees before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which quashed the repatriation orders. The High Court stated that since the guidelines for allocation between the two corporations had not been finalised, the repatriation orders were not required.
APSRTC subsequently filed appeals against the decision, arguing that there was an approved Agenda Note detailing the modalities for allocation. The agenda mentioned that Class III and IV employees were to remain in the zones where they were originally appointed, falling under TSRTC.
The Supreme Court upheld the repatriation orders, directing employees to be allocated to their original zones of appointment under TSRTC.
“In this view of the matter, following the statutory mandate of Section 82 read with the Agenda Note dated 16.08.2017, the respondents will continue their employment in the same region, which is under the present TSRTC,” the Bench ordered.
“The division bench of the High Court failed to note that the respondents who were on deputation were not absorbed in the deputed posts. In fact, their seniority is continued in their parental zones,” the Court remarked.
Consequently, the Court held that the “decision of the division bench is unsustainable” explaining that the High Court did not consider the subsequent development when the respondents were in fact repatriated to their parent cadre as a consequence of the order passed by the division bench.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal.
Cause Title: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation & Ors. v. V.V. Brahma Reddy & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2024 INSC 663)
Appearance:
Appellants: Senior Advocate Gourab Banerji; Advocates Anurag Tiwari and Sahib Patel; AOR Ashish Kumar Tiwari
Respondents: AOR Vivek Sharma and Krishna Kumar Singh; Advocates GVR Choudhary and Prem Ravi Teja