HYDERABAD:In a major relief to over 1,200 electricity employees in Telangana, who were allocated to AP after bifurcation, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court has directed both State governments to pay their salaries within four weeks here on Tuesday. The employees who were deprived of salaries since April this year, shall be paid as per ratio prescribed under the State Reorganization Act, i.e. 58:42.
Besides, the bench directed that these employees shall continue to work under Telangana Genco and TSSPDCL until final disposal of the case. The bench comprising Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice A Shankar Narayana was passing the orders on petitions filed by the employees working with Telangana Power Generation Corporation (TGenco) and Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd (TSSPDCL) challenging their allocation to AP state based on their place of birth.
It may be recalled that the TSSPDCL had framed the guidelines for distribution of employees working under TGenco and TSSPDCL after the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh and it had passed orders relieving over 1,200 employees to AP in April this year.
Aggrieved by this, the employees moved the High Court contending that as per Section 82 of the AP Reorganisation Act, the TSSPDCL is the competent body to formulate modalities within one year from the appointed day and after lapse of one year, only the President can issue the guidelines. But the TSSDPCL has framed the guidelines after lapse of one year and repatriated them to the AP, which is illegal, the employees argued.
Earlier, a single judge had stayed the guidelines prepared by the TSSPDCL for distribution of employees and also directed the Telangana government to pay salaries to the employees who have been relieved based on the guidelines. The TSSPDCL had approached the division bench and all the connected cases were placed before the bench. The Telangana government has defended its decision contending that the AP Reorganisation Act empowers it to frame the guidelines and employees were relieved based on their nativity but not on their place of birth. On the other hand, the employees complained that they are not getting salaries since April and are struggling to survive.
The bench found that the two State governments have taken a conflicting stand and in this process and the petitioner employees are suffering for no fault of theirs. Modalities were framed based upon place of birth and are not in conformity with law.
TS-chhattisgarh in 1,000 mw deal
A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between the power distribution companies of Telangana and Chhattisgarh on Tuesday for purchasing 1,000 MW power. Under this, the State will get power at a reasonable price of Rs 4.90 per unit.