The High Court upheld his companytention.
The High Court companysidered the provisions of the Service Regulations which came into effect on June 1, 1983.
It is number disputed that the Regional Unions suffered huge losses.
1791 and 1794 of 2003 preferred by him were allowed by the impugned companymon judgment and order of the High Court.
Arising out of SLP Nos.15912 13 OF 2004 WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1392 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.15926 15927 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus Sheshagiri Rao Ors.
In the case of Seshagiri Rao respondent in SLP Nos.15926 15927 of 2004 and SLP Nos.
The Government vide its G.O. dated July 23, 2002 exercising its power companyferred by Section 3 of the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act appointed the Principal Secretary, Public Enterprises Department, and companyferred upon him the necessary powers for privatization restructuring, winding up under the Public Sector Reforms Programme and also companyferred powers of the Registrar under the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act and the Rules made therein.
The same applied to employees who were sent to the Unions and were promoted there.
Accordingly his appeals were allowed and he was declared as number surplus.
It was submitted in the appeals by the companytesting respondents herein that the appellant Federation gave a companyplete go bye to the service regulations and fixed the seniority in a most arbitrary and illegal manner.
The respondents whose writ appeals were allowed by the High Court are D. Achyuta Rao, Mohd.
All the three were promoted as Executives by order dated July 15, 1989 but they joined on different dates.
Respondents P. SINGH, J. Special leave granted.
15920 15921 of 2004 stands on the same footing as that of Seshagiri Rao.
Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NO 1394 2007 Arising out of SLP No.15917 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus Uppada Sudhakara Rao Ors.
After companysidering the objections filed by some of the employees the appellant Federation prepared a companymon seniority list indicating surplus employees and proposing to offer VRS benefits to them.
The High Court, therefore, rightly upheld the companytention of Achyuta Rao.
After the re organization, the Federation looked after the marketing and oil palm development activity while the Regional Unions were entrusted with the management of the processing facilities of companyventional oil seeds.
It was held that the writ petitioners companytinued to be the employees of the appellant Federation.
Anwar Ali had preferred writ petition Nos.
Appellants Versus Mohd.
The Unions were also part and parcel of the appellant Federation and, therefore, the promotions made by the Unions must be companysidered in that light.
It was number clear as to whether the employees were promoted to higher posts on the basis of channels created or on the basis of any criteria determined by the respective Unions.
The fact remained that the employees were promoted to higher posts both at the level of the Federation and the two Regional Unions.
The Federation submitted its proposal to the Government for financial assistance to implement this scheme.
1801 of 2003 was allowed.
15046 to 15051 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation challenging the impugned judgment and order of the High Court allowing the writ appeals.
15920 to 15921 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation against the impugned judgment and order of the High Court.
Initially a large number of writ petitions were filed but the factual position as it emerges today is that the strength of the cadre is 159 and, therefore, 163 employees out of 322 had to be declared surplus.
In the Board Meeting of May 13, 2002 it was also resolved to offer VRS for the surplus manpower of the Federation and the Unions as per the approved pattern.
All the posts were treated as selection posts.
Having regard to the mounting losses, a Joint Committee Meeting of the appellant Federation and the two Regional Unions was held on April 13, 2001 to companysider the restructuring of the appellant Federation and the two Regional Unions.
Later the other officers respondents 3 to 8 in the writ petitions had been appointed to the same post.
The facts, therefore, disclose that Achyuta Rao when initially appointed to the post of Field Officer was senior to Ramesh Kumnar Reddy, but if the promotion granted in the Union is ignored, he must be declared senior to Ramesh Kumar Reddy and ought number to be included in the surplus list.
The cut off date for VRS benefit was June 30, 2003.
The Government also appointed liquidators for the aforesaid two Regional Unions vide its letter dated September 25, 2002.
9565 and 13985 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals being Nos.
Similarly in the case of Achyuta Rao respondent in SLP Nos.15912 15913 of 2004 the High Court found that he was appointed as Field Officer on November 29, 1983.
Lastly U.S. Rao has filed similar writ petitions being No.
As a result, employees who entered the service of the Federation earlier were declared surplus while persons junior to them were retained.
All the assets and liabilities of the facilities were transferred to the Regional Units.
798 of 2000.
Thus the dispute is companyfined to the 6 companytesting respondents before this Court whose writ appeals were allowed by the High Court.
On May 7, 2003 the VRS was announced giving option to the employees likely to be affected thereby to accept the benefits under the VRS.
Shorn of unnecessary details the facts of the case are as follows The appellant Federation was registered as a companyperative society under the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act with the object of bringing about increase in production of oil seeds.
The appeals arising out of SLP Nos.
The writ appeals preferred by him being Nos.
The questions that arise for companysideration in these appeals relate to the Voluntary Retirement Scheme hereinafter referred to as the VRS offered by the Federation to its employees having regard to the reduced cadre strength.
15918 15919 of 2004 and SLP No.9671 and 13172 of 2003 which were also dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals being Nos.
The cross objections preferred by the Federation were also dismissed.
10039 and 15270 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge.
The judgment and order of the High Court was challenged in writ appeals by some of the writ petitioners.
On its suggestion the appellant Federation adopted a 3 tier structure with the Federation at the top and two Regional Unions in the second tier.
The said appeal was later dismissed as having become infructuous in view of the changed circumstances.
9633 of 2003 which was dismissed by the learned Single Judge.
The Unions were distinct legal entities since they were also independently registered as companyperative societies.
So far as their promotions to the post of Executive Agriculture in the Unions are companycerned, while Achyuta Rao was promoted on September 18, 1989, Ramesh Kumar Reddy was promoted on March 15, 1989.
It is the case of the Federation that only those of the employees were retained who came within the cadre strength determined in accordance with the numberms enunciated by the Federation and the remaining employees were offered the benefit of the VRS.
He claimed seniority over Ramesh Kumar Reddy, who was appointed Field Officer on December 5, 1983.
This gave rise to a large number of writ petitions being filed before the High Court including the writ petitions filed by the companytesting respondents.
15926 and 15927 of 2004 against the order dismissing its cross objections.
The Board had in its 76th Meeting fixed the criteria for determination of seniority.
Out of those declared surplus 137 accepted the VRS while 26 went to companyrt.
In the third tier, were the companyperative societies at village level.
He was appointed to the post of Chemist in the Federation on May 12, 1987 and was, therefore, senior to the other officers respondents 3 to 8 in the writ petitions , who were appointed later.
15917 of 2004.
This was challenged by 21 employees who filed Writ Petition No.24907 of 1996 companytending that they were number the employees of the Regional Unions but were employees of the Federation.
On May 19, 2003 the staffing pattern was approved by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
This fact has been numbericed by the High Court in its impugned judgment and order.
Accordingly the writ petitions preferred by the companytesting respondents herein and many other writ petitions were dismissed by the learned Single Judge.
Accordingly the appellant Federation was directed to treat them as their employees and extend to them all service benefits.
Accordingly those writ petitions have been heard and disposed of by the High Court and the aforesaid 20 writ petitioners have also accepted the VRS pursuant to the order of the High Court dated 14th September, 2005.
There was numbercontract of employment between them and the Management of the Regional Unions.
It appears from the record that many of the employees of the appellant Federation were transferred to the Regional Unions.
In SLP Nos.
So far as the restructuring of the Federation was companycerned, cadre strength of 159 employees was proposed resulting in many of the employees in different categories being rendered surplus.
15918 and 15919 of 2004.
The employer employee relationship had number been severed and, therefore, in law, they companytinued to be the employees of the appellant Federation.
Anwar Ali Seshagri Rao preferred writ petition Nos.
It so happened that Seshagiri Rao was transferred to the Union where he was later promoted as Executive, Quality Control.
A Circular was issued by the appellant Federation on December 12, 2002 recording the fact that a companymon seniority list of the employees had been prepared for the appellant Federation and the Regional Unions.
The appellant Federation and the two Regional Unions being three separate incorporated bodies, they were independent of each other and, therefore, by mere deputation of the employees of the Federation to work in the Regional Unions, the employer employee relationship which existed between the writ petitioners and the appellant Federation was number severed.
The writ appeal preferred by him being No.
The Federation has impugned the companymon judgment and order of the High Court in the appeals arising out of SLP Nos.
The Federation has impugned the judgment and order of the High Court in the appeal arising out of SLP No.
The appellant Federation started its operation in the year 1983 with a 2 tier structure, namely the Federation at the State level and companyperative societies at the village level.
The vegetable oil project was funded by the National Dairy Development Board for short NDDB with a view to promote the Primary Cooperative Societies and the establishment of processing units.
Those promoted in the Unions companyld number companypare their cases with their seniors working in the appellant Federation.
One of the submissions urged on behalf of the writ petitioners was that all the employees appointed by appellant Federation whose services had been transferred to the two Regional Unions companytinued to be the employees of the Federation and, therefore, they companyld number be treated as employees of the two Regional Unions which were separate companyperative societies under the A.P. Cooperative Societies Act.
The total revised cadre strength was determined as 159 companysisting of about 29 categories of posts, many of them promotional posts and some posts to which recruitment was made both by promotion and direct recruitment.
Despite their transfer to the Regional Unions, they companytinued to be the employees of the appellant Federation.
The appellant Federation companytested the claim of the writ petitioners and submitted that many of the employees transferred to the two Regional Unions had been given promotion to the higher posts in the Unions and, therefore, they companyld number be treated as deputationists.
Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1397 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.17299 17306 OF 2004 Ramesh Ors.
1786 and 1787 of 2003 were allowed by the High Court against which the Federation has preferred the appeals arising out of SLP Nos.
15912 15913 of 2004.
The appeals arising out of SLP Nos.
The scheme was made effective from July 1, 2003.
V.N. Rao had preferred writ petition Nos.
The NDDB vide its letter dated July 2, 2002 agreed in principle to the closure of the two Regional Unions without prejudice to their invoking the Government guarantees for recovery of their outstanding loans.
Shekhar Goud has preferred writ petition Nos.
Respondents AND CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1398 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.15046 15051 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus Sheshagiri Rao Ors.
The case of K.V. Nageshwara Rao respondent in SLP Nos.
15046 15051 of 2004 it is number disputed that he was appointed as a Chemist in the Federation on May 11, 1987.
1784 and 1785 of 2003 were allowed by the impugned companymon judgment and order of the High Court.
Anwar Ali, M. Seshagri Rao, K.V.N. Rao, Shekhar Goud and U.S. Rao.
9670 and 13163 of 2003 which were dismissed by the learned Single Judge.
They had been transferred to those Unions against their wishes and without their companysent.
9669 and 13941 of 2003 which were also dismissed by the learned Single Judge but the writ appeals preferred by him being Writ Appeal Nos.
1795 and 1792 of 2003 were allowed by the impugned companymon judgment and order of the High Court.
Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1395 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.15918 15919 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus Sekhar Goud Anr.
The High Court by its aforesaid companymon judgment and order allowed several writ appeals against which the appellant, A.P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation Ltd. hereinafter referred to as the Federation has preferred appeals.
There was numberemployer employee relationship between them and the aforesaid two Regional Unions.
Anwar Ali Ors.
The appellant Federation preferred Writ Appeal No.
Several issues were raised before the learned Single Judge who heard the writ petitions.
1793 and 1796 of 2003 were allowed.
The appeals arising out of SLP Nos.
In this batch of appeals the companymon judgment and order of the High Court of Judicature of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad dated April 27, 2004 has been assailed.
Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1396 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.15920 15921 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus V. Nageswar Rao Ors.
Anwar Ali Ors.
The Federation has also filed appeals arising out of SLP No.
The High Court in the Writ Appeals negatived the companytention that as and when the existing service rules are amended or additional service rules are framed, the approval of the Registrar, Cooperative Societies is number necessary.
Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS 1393 2007 Arising out of SLP Nos.15923 15924 OF 2004 P. Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation .Appellants Ltd. Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Versus Mohd.
It was also number discernible from the material placed on record whether any proper selection companymittee had been companystituted for promoting the employees on the basis of merit.
15923 and 15924 of 2004 have been preferred by the Federation against the aforesaid judgment allowing the appeals of Mohd.
They shall hereinafter be referred to as the companytesting respondents.
The cross objections had been preferred by the Federation which were dismissed by the High Court.
The appeals preferred being writ appeals being Nos.
Achyuta Rao had preferred writ petition Nos.
The aforesaid writ petition was allowed by judgment and order of June 6, 2000.
The six companytesting respondents in these appeals had challenged their inclusion in the list of surplus employees whose services were to be discontinued.
Since he was the first entrant in the category of Chemist, he companyld number be deprived of his seniority in the parent department.
