Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Union Of India & Ors vs Ravi Prakash on 8 August, 2022
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Court
No. 11 08.08.2022
G.S.Das
FMA 651 of 2022
With
CAN 1 of 2022
Union of India & Ors.
-Vs-
Ravi Prakash
Mr. Kushi Prasun Chatterjee
Mr. Aveek Biswas
... for the Appellants
Mr. Ujjal Ray
Mr. Arpa Chakraborty
... for the Respondent
Party/Parties is/are represented in the order of their name/names as printed above in the cause title.
Mr. Chatterjee, Learned Counsel, appears for the appellants with Mr. Biswas, Learned Advocate.
The Respondent is represented by Mr. Ray, Learned Counsel with Mr. Chakraborty, Learned Advocate.
This appeal is directed against the Judgement and Order of the Hon'ble Single Bench dated 25 th January, 2022.
By the said impugned Judgment and Order the Respondent Authorities/the Railway Protection Force (for short, RPF) were directed to forthwith issue the medical decategorization certificate of the writ petitioner in compliance with the previous Order of the Hon'ble Court dated 27th July, 2020 in another writ 2 petition.
The Hon'ble Single Bench was further pleased to, inter alia, direct the Respondents/RPF to issue, in the alternative, a certificate of change of occupation to the writ petitioner and to assign the writ petitioner either a lighter category of service or lighter duty in similar category.
Mr. Ray, Learned Counsel, strongly argues that the directions of the Hon'ble Single Bench are pari materia with the Rules connected to the medical recommendation of the RPF, particularly being Rules 559, 560 and 561 thereto.
It is submitted that the writ petitioner was in the Sick List of the RPF and following the provisions of the Rules since such Sick List was declared by the RPF itself to confer eligibility on the incumbent to be decategorized, the RPF be held to be bound to its own Rules.
Per contra, Mr. Chatterjee, Learned Counsel appearing for the appellants/RPF, submits that the writ petitioner was twice summoned to report back to office and twice the writ petitioner ignored such summons.
It is the contention of the appellants/RPF that the writ petitioner had played truant.
Reliance is placed in this appeal on a Memo dated 22nd December, 2014 of the Railway Board, inter 3 alia, purporting to constitute a Medical Board on the issue that in the case of illness, the medical record of the concerned employee for a period of two years, which is far above the period of six months as stated in the Rules (supra), will be considered.
The Circular dated 22nd December, 2014 is however contradicted by Learned Counsel for the writ petitioner on the ground that such administrative Circular cannot supersede the statutory Rules of the RPF which provides for decategorization of persons who are declared to be in the Sick List by the RPF itself.
Having heard the parties and considering the materials placed at this stage, this Court does not find that the Judgment and Order dated 25th January, 2022 deserves to be stayed.
Accordingly, the prayer for interim relief stands refused.
The Respondent/the writ petitioner shall be eligible to file Affidavit-in-opposition to CAN 1 of 2022 within a period of three weeks from this date. Reply, if any thereto, be filed within two weeks thereafter.
At the end of the period granted to exchange Affidavits, the appellant/the RPF shall prepare the requisite number of Informal Paper Book(s) incorporating all the documents necessary to this appeal.
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Let the matter appear for consideration next under the heading "Hearing (Gr.-VI)" in the Combined Monthly List of November, 2022.
All parties to act on a server copy of this order duly obtained from the official website of the Hon'ble High Court, Calcutta.
(Lapita Banerji, J.) (Subrata Talukdar,J.)