HYDERABAD: Making it clear that Amended Recruitment Rules framed under GO 19 are not applicable with retrospective effect, the Telangana High Court on Tuesday said that all police constables transferred prior to February 6, 2018 are entitled for grant of seniority while those transferred after this date shall be governed by the amended rules.
A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N Tukaramji on Tuesday disposed of a batch of petitions filed by several police constables aggrieved by GO 19 amending the recruitment rules, known as the Special Rules for the Telangana Police (Civil) Subordinate Service Rules issued in GO 374.
The court was told that the rules formulated under GO 19, introduced for the first time a weightage formula that effectively wiped away the past seniority. The petitioners argued that the amendment cannot be applicable with retrospective effect. It may be mentioned here that in Telangana, the police force has three broad divisions: Special Police, Armed Reserve Police and Telangana Civil Police.
Recruitment for these three limbs of the police department is done on the basis of a common examination conducted by the Police Recruitment Board. Based on the option given by the candidates and the percentage of the marks obtained in the process of examination, they are allotted to one of the three divisions. The recruitment rules governing the recruitment to all three divisions provide for transfer from Special Police to Armed Reserve as well as from the Armed Reserve to Telangana Civil Police.
In the present case, the petitioners were appointed on account of selection in the Special Police division while earlier, all three divisions were governed under the rules known as the Andhra Pradesh Police Subordinate Service Rules.