The Supreme Court Monday upheld the concluding report of one-man committee of former top court judge DM Dharmadhikari on distribution of personnel of power companies and corporations between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and rejected the objections against the findings by the latter.
The top court said it did not find any merit in the objections to the report dated June 20, 2020 and it is obligatory for power utilities of both the states and all concerned to implement the committee's directions.
The top court had set up the panel on November 28, 2018 to settle the dispute over allocation of employees between Andhra Pradesh Power Utilities and Telangana Power Utilities. The dispute followed the division of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh into two states — Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah after considering all aspects said, “We, thus, are of the view that the one-man committee has considered all materials and objections placed before it by both sides including the representation of the employees and employees' organisations submitted from time to time. The bench noted that the process initiated by submitting final report on December 26, 2019 was followed by a supplementary report dated March 11, 2020 and Concluding Report on June 20, 2020.
The One-Man Committee being aware of all objections and having taken a conscious decision to finalise the allocation between two States, we do not find any such error in the process which may warrant any clarification or direction by this Court, it said. The exercise undertaken by the one-man panel is to allocate 655 personnel from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh and vice-versa, it added.
It said that apart from these two allocations, other personnel in these two states were not disturbed by the allocation process. Rejecting the objection raised by Telangana on reciprocity of 655 employees only by Andhra Pradesh, the bench said, We do not find that there is any error in reciprocity. The one-man committee took a decision that when 655 employees are coming from Telangana state to Andhra Pradesh, same number should go from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana state.
The bench, while dismissing the application filed by Telangana State power utilities said that in the concluding report, the final list has been annexed that is utility-wise and personnel-wise, which is clear and unambiguous. With regard to other application filed by employees and employee associations seeking various reliefs including salaries and allowances, the bench said, we make it clear that the one-man committee was entrusted only with distribution of personnel between the two States, which distribution has been finalised by the one-man committee.
It said that insofar as the allocation made by the committee, no objection or challenge by any employee or officer is entertainable, we clarify that the one-man committee having completed the process of allocation, the said allocation cannot be challenged by any employee or officer or any utility before any forum. It said that other claims regarding salary or allowances as raised in different applications, they need no consideration in these proceedings and employees of power utilities are free to adjudicate their claims before appropriate forum in accordance with law.
The top court noted that in the erstwhile state, the power utilities were Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation, Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation and four Power Distribution Companies — Eastern, Southern, Central and Northern DISCOMS. Pradesh government orders issued on May 29, 2014, for distribution companies, generation companies and transmission Corporation, the assets and liabilities of the corporations and companies were to be apportioned between the two new States. However, the dispute arose after power utilities of the two newly formed states could not arrive at any consensus with regard to modalities for allocation and distribution of personnel.
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