The Supreme Court has dismissed the pleas of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco), a few employees’ associations and individual employees of power utilities to withhold the concluding report of Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari Committee on the allocation of employees among power utilities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
A Division Bench of the Apex Court comprising Justice J. Ashok Bhusan and M.R. Shah said on Monday that there is no merit in the objections to the One-Man (Justice Dharmadhikari) Committee’s concluding report of June 20 and made it clear that “it is obligatory for power utilities of both the State and all concerned to carry out and implement the committee report and the directions of the committee”.
The Supreme Court Bench observed that the One-Man Committee was aware of all objections and has taken a conscious decision to finalise the allocation between two States and “we do not find any such error in the process which may warrant any clarification or direction by this Court”.
Further, the Court felt that apart from the allocation of 655 employees from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh and an equal number from AP to Telangana, no other personnel working for the power utilities in the two States were disturbed by the final allocation made by the One-Man Committee. On the plea to taking exception to reciprocity of 655 employees, the Court said: “We do not find any error in reciprocity. The One-Man Committee took a decision that when 655 employees are coming from Telangana to AP, same number should go from AP to Telangana.
The Court agreed with APGenco’s submission that reciprocity of 655 employees was “to maintain financial neutrality” of the power utilities in the two States and to maintain the ratio of 3,552:2,550, as laid down by the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, between AP and Telangana utilities.
The concluding report of the One-Man Committee along with the final list of employees allocation, which is utility-wise and personnel-wise, is clear and unambiguous and there is no merit in the applications (pleas) of Telangana power utilities the Court observed. On the pleas of employees’ associations and individual employees the Court concluded: “The allocation process completed by the One-Man Committee can’t be challenged by any employee, officer or any utility before any forum”.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court judgement is likely to have a huge impact on the postings and promotions within Telangana utilities since promotions were given after relieving 1,157 employees to AP utilities in the past. When contacted, Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Genco D. Prabhakar Rao said they would abide by the Supreme Court verdict.