The dispute over bifurcation of power sector employees is back to square one again with the utilities of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh refusing to budge from their respective stances.
Efforts made by the committee headed retired Supreme Court Judge Justice D.N. Dharmadhikari failed to cut the ice between the two sides as they remained unrelenting.
With the committee’s proceedings failing to resolve the impasse, the issue has now landed in the High Court of Judicature for its judgment on the issue.
The Andhra Pradesh power utilities have remained firm on their stand for providing options to the 1,250-odd employees of AP nativity working in the Telangana power distribution companies which the Telangana power utilities are unwilling to consider.
The Telangana power utilities, on their part, suggested their AP counterparts to create supernumerary posts to accommodate the relieved employees, but the latter remained firm that there would not be any additional posts.
“The existing posts should be bifurcated through a mutually agreed formula first and then we can think about the alternatives,” a senior official of the AP utilities, who attended the two-day deliberations on April 30 and May 1, told The Hindu .
The official said with the Dharmadhikari Committee submitting a “no consensus” report to the High Court of Judicature, it was for the court to decide about the status of the employees as and when the case comes up for hearing.
According to sources, the AP Government submitted in writing that there was no scope for creating additional posts and the bifurcation of employees should take place on the lines of the AP Reorganisation Act, which lays emphasis on the sanctioned strength at the time of bifurcation.
The Telangana utilities are, however, firm on their resolve that the provision of options would not be extended to the relieved staff.
“ We made clear that options will not be given to the staff of Andhra nativity,” a senior official of Telangana power utilities said.
The issue has now landed in the High Court of Judicature for its judgment in the case
