Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Octogenarian's fight for justice

By V.N. Harinath

HYDERABAD Dec. 28. At the age of 84, R. Lakshmanamurthy of Hyderabad, who entered the Government service as a clerk after selection by the Madras Public Service Commission in 1942 in the IGP's office of the composite Madras State, has been shuttling from pillar to post in the Government and other fora for over two decades seeking justice that is `denied' to him.

According to a representation he submitted to the Principal Secretary, Revenue, on July 9 this year, which was made available to The Hindu, he was transferred to the then Madras Excise and Prohibition department in 1946. He was promoted to the post of UDC seven years later. After the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, following the merger of the department with the police, he was shifted to the DIG, Railways and CID, Kurnool. A few months later, the office was merged with the Additional IG, Railways and CID, Hyderabad. Following integration of cadres of the two regions, UDCs were equated with grade II clerks and the seniority list was released along with the GO 1998 GAD (SR) on December 9, 1957.

Mr. Lakshmanamurthy contends that although on the common gradation list he was No.1, "for no valid reason I was denied promotion and my juniors were promoted. During my tenure in the AP CID, I was ignored for promotion." Following the merger, he was sent back to the Excise Department, shifted to several offices within 14 years. He retired in the same cadre on January 31, 1975. At the same time, his juniors were promoted to gazetted posts.

His knocking the doors of the Departmental Review Committee did help, as the Home Department issued a GO on August 4, 1983, and sent it to the DGP and the Additional DGP (CID) for compliance. When he did not get any response, Mr. Lakshmanamurthy approached the AP Administrative Tribunal (suit no 3251/94) citing the Principal Secretary (Home) and the DGP, the Additional DGP (CID) and the Principal Secretary, Revenue and Excise, as respondents.

After the case dragged on for over a decade, the last three respondents complied with orders issued by various forums of justice --APAT and two courts--and conceded notional promotion, with all consequential benefits in the cadres of accountant/office superintendent/PA to SP, from April 26, 1957, December 9, 1957 and February 11, 1961 respectively. The last one as gazetted cadre partly complied with court orders.

"Since I am promoted notionally to the post of PA to SP, I feel justified to put forth my claim for notional promotion as cadre of excise department, as well, since my service in excise spanned over two decades out of my total service of 30 years," he said.

The octogenarian feels that the State officials are dodging the issue and delaying action on his demands.

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