Tirumala Durga Rao, v. State Of Andhra Pradesh,

HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.40886 of 2015 DATED : 17.12.2015 Between:

Tirumala Durga Rao, S/o.Seetaiah, Age : 65 yrs, Retired employee, Tadimalla Mandal, Nidadavolu Mandal, West Godavari District.

.. Petitioner AND State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep., by its Principal Secretary to Panchayat Raj & Rural Development, Secretariat, Saifabad, Hyderabad & 2 others.

.. Respondents

The Court made the following:

HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.NAVEEN RAO WRIT PETITION No.40886 of 2015 ORDER:

Petitioner retired from service. The grievance of the petitioner in the writ petition is regarding settlement of pensionary benefits. The petitioner is challenging the order of punishment of with holding 100% pension and gratuity. Petitioner being a Government servant has to invoke the jurisdiction of Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal (for short 'the APAT') constituted under the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985. As held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in L. Chandra Kumar Vs Union of India[1] the APAT is the Court of first instance and without exhausting the remedy available under the Administrative Tribunal Act, an employee cannot directly invoke the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

2. Having regard to the same, the Writ Petition is dismissed with liberty to avail the remedy as available under the Administrative Tribunal Act. There shall be no order as to costs. Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this writ petition shall stand dismissed.

___________________ P.NAVEEN RAO, J Date: 17th December, 2015 Rds [1] AIR 1997 SC 1125