Central Administrative Tribunal - Hyderabad
Manish Kumar vs South Central Railway on 26 October, 2021
OA No. 571/2021
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
HYDERABAD BENCH
ORIGINAL APPLICATION No. 571/2021
HYDERABAD, this the 26th day of October, 2021
Hon'ble Mr. Ashish Kalia, Judl. Member
Hon'ble Mr. B V Sudhakar, Admn. Member
1. Mr. Manish Kumar,
S/o Murli Das, Age: 33 years,
Track MTNR-III/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
2. Mr. Rahul Kumar,
S/o Raju Singh, Age: 34 years,
Trackman TR-II/NZB, SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
3. Mr. Mithlesh Kumar Rahisat,
S/o Dinesh Pasuram, Age: 31 years,
Track MTNR-III, SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
4. Mr. Santosh Kumar,
S/o Ganga Sagar Ram, Age: 35 years,
Track MTNR-III/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
5. Mr. Mahesh Kumar Meena,
S/o Prasadi Lal Meera, Age: 40 years,
Track MTNR-II/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
6. Mr. Chauth Mal Meena,
S/o Ramnath, Age: 37 years,
Track MTNR-III/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
7. Mr. Kaluram Meena,
S/o Radha Kishan, Age: 40 years,
Track MTNR-III/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
8. Mr. Prithivi Raj Meena,
S/o Bhaura Lal Meena, Age: 40 years,
Track MTNR-III/SSE/PW/NZB/SC Railway.
...Applicants.
(By Advocate : Mr. K Sudhaker Reddy)
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OA No. 571/2021
Vs.
1. The Union of India,
Ministry of Railways,
Rep. by the General Manager,
South Central Railway,
Rail Nilayam, IIIrd Floor,
Secunderabad- 500 071.
2. The Principal Chief Personnel Officer,
South Central Railway,
Rail Nilayam,
Secunderabad- 500 071.
3. The Divisional Railway Manager,
South Central Railway,
Secunderabad- 500 071.
... Respondents.
(By Advocate: Mrs. A P Lakshmi, SC for Railways).
---
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OA No. 571/2021
ORAL ORDER
(As per Hon'ble Mr. Ashish Kalia, Judl. Member) Through Video Conferencing:
This Original Applications has been filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking the following reliefs:
i) Declare the action of the respondents in not relieving the applicant's from SC Railway to enable them to join on Inter Railway Own Request Transfer(IRRT) at various places as mentioned in their respective NOCs issued by the East Central Railway, West Central Railway as illegal, arbitrary and also clear violation of the observations made by the Hon'ble High Court of AP/Telangana dated 31.10.2017 in WP No. 31544 of 2016 and violation of the applicants fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 & 21 of the Constitution of India.
And Consequently, direct the respondents to relieve the applicants forthwith from SC Railway to enable the applicants to join on Inter Railway Own Request Transfer(IRRT) at various places as mentioned in their respective NOCs issued by the East Central Railway and West Central Railway as directed by Hon'ble High Court of AP/Telangana dated 31.10.2017 in WP No. 31554 of 2016 in similar matter and pass such other and further order or orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case."
2. The brief facts of the case is that the applicants, who are working with the respondents on different posts at various places of Hyderabad Division have applied for Inter Railway Request Transfer(IRRT). The respondents, through the General Manager, recommended the cases and constituted a panel for transfers. The terms and conditions of transfer are that the applicants have to lose their seniority while joining at the new place of posting. This is the policy formulated by the Railways. The applications of the applicants for Inter Railway Request Transfer have been forwarded to the concerned Railway Divisions and NOCs were issued for Page 3 of 7 OA No. 571/2021 relieving of the applicants. But the applicants have not yet been relieved. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the applicants that the respondents have issued priority list of Inter Railway Request Transfer of Track Maintainers and the respondents have relieved other employees in out of turn basis. The respondents have contested the matter and filed reply.
3. The respondents, in their reply, have stated that the Hyderabad Division has forwarded 147 Inter Railway Transfer applications to other Railways and in response, 110 NOCs were received including the 8 applicants. In terms of PCPO/SC's instructions circulated vide letter dt. 07.08.2020, Hyderabad Division was instructed to spare 49 Track Maintainers on IRRT in view of administrative and operational convenience and the applicants are above 49 in the said priority list due to which, they are not relieved. He further submitted that there are no juniors, who were transferred on out of turn basis, except one Mr. Bijendra Singh, TM Gr- II(Priority No. 146), who was considered on Medical grounds with the approval of the Competent Authority. Further, vacancies of 568 Track Maintainers were placed on Railway Recruitment Cell from Open Recruitment for which 369 candidates have been allowed to Hyderabad Division in a phased manner and 199 candidates are yet to be allowed. As and when fresh candidates are selected, the applicants, who received NOC, will be considered for relieving. It is further stated that as and when NOCs will be expired after issue of six months, references will be made by this Division to other Page 4 of 7 OA No. 571/2021 Divisions for validating and communicating fresh approvals of the NOCs and there is no need for the applicants to apply again.
4. The basic contention raised by the respondents in these applications is that there is no right for the applicants to seek mandatory transfer. The transfer policy is not a statute, it is only a guideline issued by the respondents and as per the administrative convenience, they can be relieved from time to time based on the date of receipt of application and the approval of the General Manager concerned.
5. Heard the learned counsels for the parties at length.
6. This Tribunal has already decided the issue in OA No.834/2020 dt. 16.12.2020 in which this Tribunal had directed the respondents to relieve the applicants within a period of six months while considering the Inter-Railway Zonal Transfer. Operative portion of the said order is as under:
"....Keeping in view the interests of the organization and that of the applicants as well the deadline of May, 2021 fixed by Kota Division for the applicants to join, which works out to nearly six months, we direct the respondents to relieve the applicants by May, 2021 or earlier, if possible, depending on the staff strength and operational requirements. We make it clear that the NOC issued would remain operational till they are relieved by May, 2021."
This matter has been subjected to the judgment of the Hon'ble High Court of Telangana in WP No. 11551/2019 & Ors. dt. 20.04.2021 in which the following directions were issued:
"The Tribunal has already granted six months from the date of the impugned orders.Page 5 of 7 OA No. 571/2021
However, having regard to the facts and circumstances, and the submissions of the learned counsel, we deem it appropriate to grant some reasonable time. For the foregoing reasons, the writ petitions are dismissed, and the petitioners are granted six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order for taking steps for relieving the respondents / employees to the transferred places.
Interlocutory applications pending, if any, shall stand closed. No order as to costs."
7. In a similar matter, the Hon'ble High Court of AP/ Telangana in WP No. 31544 of 2016 dt. 31.10.2017 held that:
"...11. It is interesting to note that the requests of the respondents for Zonal transfers were accepted way back in the year 2012 and 2013. Now a period of 4 to 5 years has passed. As and when the respondents go and join in the respective Zones, they have to take the bottom most seniority. Therefore, any further delay on the part of the Administration, will only weaken the morale of the persons, as it may dampen the prospects of their further promotions.
12. It is not the case of the Administration that no recruitment ever took place after 2012-13 up to this date. Their only case is that adequate number of persons could not be selected.
13. Therefore, in such circumstances, the blame, if at all there is any, may perhaps lie on the part of the Railway Recruitment Board and not upon the individual employees. Therefore, the Writ Petitions are dismissed. However, the Administration is given time up to 28th February, 2018 to relieve the respondents to enable them to join in their transferred places. To facilitate these applicants, the Railway Recruitment Board is directed to complete the process of recruitment by 31st January, 2018. The miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in these writ petitions shall stand closed. No costs."
8. After considering the rival contentions, we are of the view that once a policy is framed, respective higher level official(General Manager) must have taken all factors into account and recommended the cases of the applicants. Once the cases of the applicants are Page 6 of 7 OA No. 571/2021 recommended, there will be legitimate expectation from the side of the applicants that they should be considered. Now, the stand taken by the respondents is that due to shortage of vacancies, they are not able to accommodate. While framing the Policy, the Railway Board must have taken all the factors into account. We hereby reiterate our previous order and direct the respondents that the applicants shall be relieved within a period of eight months considering the seniority from the date of application for Inter-Railway Zonal Transfer. It is ordered accordingly.
9. NOC issued, is extended till the respondents consider the applications of the applicants and relieve them.
10. With this observation, these OA is allowed without any order as to costs.
(B.V. SUDHAKAR) (ASHISH KALIA)
ADMINISTRATIVE MEMBER JUDICIAL MEMBER
/Ram./
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