JUDGEMENT
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(1.)This batch of cases including one Writ Appeal and eight Writ Petitions is on the question of the age of superannuation of certain employees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, who approached this Court with their respective writ petitions.
(2.)Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams Employees Service Rules, 1989 (for short - 'the Rules') were issued in G.O.Ms. No. 1060, Revenue (Endowments-I), dated 24.10.1989, prescribing, so far as superannuation is concerned, that the age of superannuation of every employee of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams shall be regulated by the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) Act, 1984 (A.P. Act 23 of 1984) as amended from time to time. This provision in Rule 12 of the Rules is further reinforced by the provision in Rule 4 of the Rules under which the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams employees were stated to be governed by the Fundamental Rules and the Subsidiary Rules issued thereunder and practically every other rule by which the State Government employees are governed including any executive orders or clarifications or executive instructions issued by the Government from time to time, which are of-course not inconsistent with the statute by which Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams is governed or the rules made under that statute. It is also seen that even prior to the rules so made in 1989 in supercession of the earlier rules, G.O.Ms. No. 78, Revenue (Endowments-III) Department, dated 18.01.1985, applied the same rule to the employees of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams in respect of superannuation under Rule 10 of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams Office Holders and Servants (other than hereditary office holders) Recruitment Rules, 1978. Therefore, it is clear that the provisions of the A.P. Act 23 of 1984, and the Fundamental and Subsidiary Rules issued thereunder, govern the conditions of service of the employees of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams in so far as the age of superannuation is concerned, which is in question in this batch of cases.
(3.)As per Section 3(1) of the A.P. Act 23 of 1984, every Government employee, not being a workman and not belonging to Last Grade Service shall retire from service on the afternoon of the last day of the month in which he attains the age of fifty eight years. As per Sub-section (2) thereof, every Government employee not being a workman but belonging to the Last Grade Service shall retire from service on the afternoon of the last day of the month in which he attains the age of sixty years. Explanation I to Sub-section 3 thereof defined "workman" as meaning a highly skilled, or semi-skilled or unskilled artisan in industrial and work charged establishment of Government and every such workman whether in superior or last grade service, or in any service notified as inferior shall ordinarily be retained in service up to the age of sixty years as per Sub-section 3, except under the contingencies specified in the two provisos thereunder. This provision under Section 3 has to be read as referring to an employee of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams in so far as its adoption for such employees is concerned by Rule 12 of the Rules. The word "Last Grade Service" is again defined by A.P. Act 23 of 1984, in Section 2(5) as meaning not only the service constituted by the Andhra Pradesh Last Grade Service Rules, 1961, but also including the posts and services specified in subsidiary definition (iii) under Rule 9 of the Fundamental Rules and also including the services which are treated as 'inferior' under Hyderabad Civil Services Rules. The definition of "Last Grade Service" under Fundamental Rule 9 Subsidiary definition (iii) includes all service in the following appointments unless declared, by the State Government to be superior and those specified appointments under Clause (b) of the definition include service in the posts, the pay of which (if fixed) or the maximum of the scale of pay attached to which does not exceed (i) Rs.475/- per mensem under the Revised Pay Scales, 1978; or (ii) Rs. 1,150/- per mensem under the Revised Pay Scales, 1986; or (iii) Rs. 2,375/- per mensem under the Revised Pay Scales, 1993. Therefore, either a person coming within the scope of the Andhra Pradesh Last Grade Service Rules, or within the definition of 'Last Grade Service' under Fundamental Rule 9 subsidiary definition (iii) and serving in Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams will also be entitled to the benefit of retiring from service on the afternoon of the last day of the month on which he attains the age of sixty years whether he is a workman or not unless his job or appointment is declared by the State Government to be belonging to superior service.
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