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B. Prabhakara Reddy v. The Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 782Decided 21 Aug 2017
Civil Appeal No. 10704 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

The appellant, an employee challenging a Telangana/Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment (dated 10 March 2017 in W.P. No. 42734/2015), claimed entitlement to continue in service up to 60 years of age. This was the same underlying legal question already conclusively decided by the Supreme Court in a connected batch of appeals (Civil Appeal No. 10273 of 2017 & batch) by judgment dated 9 August 2017.

Decision Breakdown

The Court condoned the delay in filing the special leave petition, granted leave, and disposed of these appeals strictly "in terms of" its own earlier 9 August 2017 judgment in the connected batch, applying that precedent's outcome directly rather than re-reasoning the issue. No costs were awarded, and pending interlocutory applications were disposed of along with the appeals.

Lesson Learnt

As with other appeals raising the identical service-law question decided in the 9 August 2017 batch judgment, this shows how the Supreme Court resolves a wave of near-identical appeals efficiently by applying one lead judgment's outcome to each follow-on case rather than repeating the reasoning each time.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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