The high court on Wednesday upheld the GOs 610 and 674 that were challenged by a group of state government employees who were repatriated. The high court asked all the aggrieved employees to join duty at the place of their new posting before going for an appeal.
Upholding the powers of the state in implementing local reservations under Article 371(D) of the Constitution and, in accordance with the presidential order, the bench said that the state was very much within its rights to issue GO 610 (intended to rectify anomalies in this regard) and GO 674 (for repatriating those employees who were posted in violation of local reservations). The bench of justice V Eswaraiah and justice N Ravishankar also disposed nearly 1600 petitions that were filed by employees of various departments challenging their repatriation. The bench, in its order, said that the two GOs did not violate the presidential order which envisages 80 percent reservations to local employees and 20 percent on merit basis.
The state government had earlier appointed a one-man judicial commission to look into the grievances of the employees in this regard. The bench in its Wednesday’s judgment directed that all those aggrieved employees falling under the categories – compassionate appointees, physically handicapped, spouse related cases – can submit their representations to the judicial commission or to the government only after joining at their new stations of posting to which they were transferred. The government or the commission would then consider their pleas and appropriate action would be taken, the bench said. [Times of India]