Central Administrative Tribunal - Patna
Ramesh Chandra Kumawat vs Railway on 19 August, 2025
1 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
PATNA BENCH
PATNA
O.A. No. 050/00242/2022
Order reserved on:-11.08.2025
Order pronounced on:- 19.08.2025
CORAM
HON'BLE MR. KUMAR RAJESH CHANDRA, MEMBER [A]
HON'BLE MR RAJVEER SINGH VERMA, MEMBER [J]
Ramesh Chandra Kumawat, aged about 28 years, S/o Sohan Lal
Kumawat, Resident of Village- Chileshwar, PS-Karera, District-
Bhilwara, Rajasthan-311804
.........Applicant
Patna
Bench
Versus
1. The Union of India through General Manager, Eastern Railway,
Kolkata at Metro Railway, A.V. Complex, Chitpur, R.G. Kar Road,
Kolkata-700037
2. Railway Recruitment Board, Kolkata, through its Chairman at at
Metro Railway, A.V. Complex, Chitpur, R.G. Kar Road, Kolkata-
700037
3. The Chairman, Railway Recruitment Board, Kolkata at Metro
Railway, A.V. Complex, Chitpur, R.G. Kar Road, Kolkata-700037
4. Principal Chief Personnel Officer, Eastern Railway, Kolkata at
Metro Railway, A.V. Complex, Chitpur, R.G. Kar Road, Kolkata-
700037
5. Assistant Personnel Officer, Eastern Railway, Jamalpur,
Locomotive Workshop, Jamalpur, Bihar
........Respondents
For Applicant:- Shri Vikash Kr. Singh, Advocate
For Respondents:- Shri M.D. Dwivedi, Ld. ASC
ORDER
PER:-KUMAR RAJESH CHANDRA, MEMBER [A]
1. The applicant filed the OA for following relief: -
Digitally signed by DURGESHDURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 2 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 "I. For quashing of letter dated 19.10.2020 whereby name of Petitioner has been returned back from the Panel for the post of Nursing Superintendent.
II. For commanding the respondents to allow him to join Main Hospital Eastern Railway, Jamalpur as nursing superintendent. III. For issuance of consequential direction/benefit. IV. For any other relief/reliefs to petitioner is entitled for."
2. Brief facts of the case are that the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), Kolkata issued an advertisement inviting applications for the post of Nursing Superintendent at the Eastern Railway Main Hospital, Patna Jamalpur. The applicant, meeting the eligibility criteria outlined in the Bench advertisement, duly submitted his application before the deadline.
Supporting documents such as a copy of the advertisement and the submitted application form have been included in the annexures of this application.
3. Following the application, the applicant successfully participated in various stages of the recruitment process. He cleared the required tests, featured in the merit list, and was subsequently called for document verification. Upon completion of all formalities, he was selected for the above post. The RRB formally communicated his selection and empanelment vide letter dated 10.02.2020, along with the necessary joining formalities.
4. In compliance with the instructions received, the applicant disclosed the pendency of a criminal case against him under Sections 498A, 304B, and 306 of the Indian Penal Code. He clarified that the case Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 3 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 was a result of the accidental death of his wife, where the medical report attributed the cause of death to an unfortunate incident involving a motorcycle. However, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged 15 days after the incident, allegedly based on false and fabricated grounds that contradict the medical evidence.
5. The applicant further submitted that the Rajasthan High Court, after reviewing the circumstances and background of the case, granted him bail. This decision strengthens the applicant's claim that the Patna allegations lacked substantial support. Additionally, the informant's side, Bench including the deceased's family, later acknowledged that the FIR was unjustified and agreed to a compromise with the applicant, a copy of which has been annexed to the application.
6. Despite all these developments, the applicant's name was removed from the final panel for the post of Nursing Superintendent by the RRB on 19.10.2020. This action was taken without issuing a show-
cause notice or providing any opportunity for the applicant to be heard, thereby violating principles of natural justice. No explanation or reasoning was offered by the authorities for this exclusion.
7. The applicant contends that the removal from the panel is arbitrary, illegal, and against the tenets of fairness. He submits that unless the impugned decision is quashed and appropriate relief is granted, he will suffer irreparable harm and loss. He has therefore, approached the Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 4 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 Hon'ble Tribunal again seeking justice and reinstatement of his rightful selection.
8. Ld. counsel for applicant has also relied upon judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of Commissioner of Police, Delhi and anr.
Vs. Dhaval Singh in (1999) 1 SCC 246, judgment of High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in case of Mandeep Kaur Vs. Canara Bank in CWP-1827-2019 and order of co-ordinate bench of this Tribunal.
9. Respondents have filed written statement and stated that OA Patna contains many erroneous, misleading and concocted aspects and is liable Bench to be dismissed with cost. Following are the main grounds taken in the written statement:-
A. The applicant had submitted all required documents and forms on 04.03.2020 and disclosed in the Attestation Form that a criminal case was pending against him. This information was corroborated by a verification report dated 04.09.2020 from the Additional District and Sessions Judge (Judicial Section), Bhilwara, confirming that FIR No. 97/2017 under IPC Sections 498, 304B, and 306 was under trial. Consequently, in accordance with Para 101 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual, the applicant was informed vide letter dated 19.10.2020 that he could not be permitted to join the post of Nursing Superintendent due to the pending court case.
B. Following the prescribed procedure, the applicant's panel papers, including full details of the case, were returned to Eastern Railway Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 5 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 HQ for further necessary action. Meanwhile, Jamalpur Workshop was provided a replacement candidate, Sri Anagh P, who was appointed after completing all pre-recruitment formalities. As a result, there is currently no vacancy in Level-07 for the Nursing Superintendent post at Jamalpur.
10. Ld. Counsel for applicant has filed rejoinder wherein he has reiterated the same fact as pleaded in the OA.
11. We have heard both ld. counsel for applicant and ld. counsel for the respondent and perused the papers made available by them during Patna pleadings. We have also considered the citations quoted by the applicant Bench in favour of his case and arrived on following conclusion:
(A) So far as the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of Commissioner of Police, Delhi and anr. Vs. Dhaval Singh in (1999) is concerned it deals with omission on the part of candidate to give information about the pendency of a criminal case. This is clearly distinguishable from the instant case where the trial of dowry death case was going on against the candidate.
This fact was considered by the respondents after seeking report from the concerned officials, before deciding about the rejection of the candidature. The trial continued for more than one and half years after this rejection on 19.10.2020 that is the impugned order.
(B) So far as the judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in case of Mandeep Kaur Vs. Canara Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 6 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 Bank in CWP-1827-2019 is concerned it deals with mere registration of FIR against the candidate that never reached the stage of even filing charge-sheet. This is clearly distinguishable from the instant case where the trial of dowry death case was going on against the candidate.
(C) So far as order of CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi in case of Manish Kumar Vs. M/o Home Affairs is concerned it has observed inter alia as following:-
Patna "We have observed that in the instant OA there has been a gross Bench violation of the Doctrine of Legitimate Expectation. The applicant joined as Sub Inspector in CBI when he was administered the sudden and rude shock of denial of appointment. It is also a violation of principles of natural justice as there was no fair hearing done to him before issuing the impugned order. Also the FIR that was lodged was for a trivial offence and not any serious or heinous offence like dacoity, rape, murder or moral turpitude." This order clearly leaves out heinous offences like murder from the purview of leniency to be granted to the candidate hence this is also not rendering any help to the applicant. (D) We have seen the attestation form marked as Annexure A-5 at page 22 of this OA where the candidate has left para 12(b) unanswered against the question "Have you ever been prosecuted?" The counsel for applicant has tried to project it as Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 7 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 an inadvertent mistake of understanding of the candidate. He has further stated that he submitted an YES answer to para 12 (i) against the question "Is any case pending against you in any court of law at the time of filing up the attestation form? Even if we take a charitable view of this explanation the fact remains that this created confusion. More so, when the applicant has secured bail in dowry death case and was facing trial it is difficult to presume that he did not understand the purport of "being Patna prosecuted"
Bench (E) The counsel for applicant has raised a question that pendency of criminal case should not have led to the rejection of his candidature rather the respondents should have offered appointment and waited for the outcome of the criminal case trial.
The applicant should have been presumed to be innocent till proved guilty as per the presumption in a criminal case. This tribunal finds that this is not acceptable in view of the fact that stricter standard of proof of "beyond all reasonable doubts" in a criminal case cannot be applied in any administrative decision.
There was no reason for the respondents to wait till an undefined time period for trial to conclude and keep the post vacant at the cost of the interest of work of medical nature. They also appear to be well within their right to not grant the appointment and thereafter wait because the trial could have gone either way.
Digitally signed by DURGESHDURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 8 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 (F) In instant case, this trial has finally concluded after approximately two years of the rejection of candidature. Initially the FIR was lodged as the ingredients of Sections 498 A, 304 B and 306 of IPC were there and the deceased had died an unnatural death by committing suicide by hanging within seven years of marriage because of dowry related harassment. As revealed by Annexure A-8 this allegation, after compromise by the prosecution side was turned into a story of motorcycle accident where allegedly the Patna "chunni" got entangled around the neck. The criminal court had Bench not accepted the compromise and proceeded with trial. This resulted in prosecution not being able to prove the case as there was compromise on both the sides so naturally the prosecution witnesses were not supporting the case at the subsequent trial stage.
(G) The respondents at the time of returning the panel containing the recommendation of the case of the applicant to RRB seeking replacement worked as per established Para 101 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual and they had all the justified reasons to do so. This information has also been communicated to the applicant vide their letter no. F/WPO/Recruitment cell/Pharmacist/SN/51 dated 19.10.2020. Under normal circumstances for this decision making process there is no need to wait for conclusion of criminal trial that was ultimately concluded Digitally signed by DURGESH DURG UTTAM DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT, Phone= ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873 a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0 9 O.A. No. 050/00242/2022 on 01.06.2022 (approximately after about quarter to two years) They were justified in filling up the post that appears to be dealing with emergency service like medial service. They could not and should not have waited for an undefined period of time. Ultimately another candidate Sri Anagh P. has been appointed and post is filled up.
12. In view of the above discussion we find that there is neither a violation of any statutory rule nor that of the principle of natural Patna justice. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the Bench respondents. This OA is completely devoid of merit and deserves to be dismissed. Accordingly, this OA is dismissed. All pending MAs are also disposed of. No order as to cost.
Sd/- Sd/-
(Rajveer Singh Verma) (Kumar Rajesh Chandra)
Member (J) Member (A)
du/-
Digitally signed by DURGESH
DURG UTTAM
DN: C=IN, O="CENTRAL
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL,
PATNA BENCH", OU=GOVT,
Phone=
ESH e1fd04cc6db152ba186f03433873
a7c94058db77c30aa28013da500 7f5e2ffb2, PostalCode=800001, S=Bihar, SERIALNUMBER= 983b3392e7590140be48328c255 UTTA bba360a14137001c5118dad4950 f327400a77, CN=DURGESH UTTAM Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document M Location:
Date: 2025.08.20 16:15:38+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version:
2025.1.0