The issue of State-cadre employees’ division among the power utilities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has become complex again with the AP utilities writing to Telangana counterparts not to relieve employees even after the final report of Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari Committee and the Telangana utilities taking up the process to relieve the staff allocated to AP.
This time, 10 days after the final report of the One-Man Committee appointed by the Supreme Court completing the allocation of employees, the AP utilities have requested the panel to keep its report “under abeyance” and have filed a direction petition in the Supreme Court challenging the final report of the committee.
Further, in a letter addressed to the Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Transco and TS-Genco on January 4, Joint Managing Director of AP-Transco K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu has requested the Telangana utilities “not to relieve any employee in pursuance of the One-Man Committee Report”. He informed the Telangana utilities that “AP power utilities are not going to admit or give posting to any of the employees who are now working in Telangana power utilities (and allocated to AP by the panel) as there are no vacant posts to accommodate them”.
‘No obligation’
Besides, the AP official stated in the communication that the employees allocated to AP by the committee afresh would be in addition to the number of employees which AP power utilities were obliged to accommodate as per the AP Reorganisation Act. The Dharmadhikari Committee has filed its final report on December 26 following the continued sharp differences between the two sides even after over a year’s exercise to bring some rapprochement.
Sources in the Telangana utilities, however, told The Hindu that they had started the process to relieve the employees allocated to AP as part implementing the One-Man Committee report. “We are simply complying with the order of the Supreme Court appointed committee,” a senior executive of Telangana utilities said.
SC order
Quoting the Supreme Court observation while appointing the One-Man Committee in its order dated November 28, 2018 the official said the court had made it clear that “the decision of the One-Man Committee headed by Justice Dharmadhikari shall be final and binding on all the parties including power utilities of the two States as well as the employees and shall be executed by all the parties as an order of this Court”.
The Telangana official explained that the committee had given four months time for postings to the relieve employees on either side and not for relieving them. The AP official stated that the petition filed by them was likely to be listed shortly and relieving any employees in pursuance of the committee report would further precipitate the issue.
