The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Bill on regulation of appointments passed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bill on regulation of appointments passed

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JULY 9. The Assembly on Friday passed the Andhra Pradesh Regulation of Appointments to Public Services and Rationalisation of Staff Pattern and Pay Structure (Amendment) Bill 2004, with 135 members supporting and 12 opposing it.

Lone Bahujan Samaj Party member remained neutral after the House rejected a statutory resolution moved by S. Rajaiah of the CPI(M) disapproving the Bill. The Bill replaces an ordinance promulgated on December 29 last year.

Members of the Left parties opposed it while those of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party and their allies supported it. The CPI(M) and the CPI pressed for a division when their plea for deferring the Bill or referring it to a select committee or the proposed Legislative Council was turned down.

Piloting the Bill, the Legislative Affairs Minister, K. Rosaiah, dispelled the fears of the Left parties that it had far-reaching consequences and posed a threat to a large number of employees working in primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS). He maintained that the Bill was intended to do away with 428 `irregular' employees who had secured a stay from the Andhra Pradesh High Court against termination of their services.

He explained that he had himself introduced the Bill in 1994 and that the previous TDP Government had amended it in 1998 and in 2003. The first amendment was to exempt from the purview of the public services if the services in any such body or society which was not receiving funds or grants towards salaries of its employees from the Government.

Keeping in view the exemption, some employees of PACS had filed a writ petition claiming regularisation of their services in the respective institutions.

N. Narasimhaiah, M.A. Gafoor and Ranga Reddy of the CPI(M) and C. Venkat Reddy (CPI), opposing the Bill, wanted the Government to either re-examine or reconsider it by referring it to the select committee. However, their demands were rejected.

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Andhra Pradesh