Central Administrative Tribunal - Delhi
Raj Kishore Das vs Nothern Railway on 22 October, 2024
ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 1 O.A. No.636/2022 Central Administrative Tribunal Principal Bench, New Delhi O.A. No.636/2022 nd This the 22 day of October, 2024 Hon'ble Mrs. Pratima K. Gupta, Member (J) Hon'ble Dr. Anand S Khati, Member (A)
1. Raj Kishore Das, aged 32 years, 'C' S/o Sh. Budhan Ravidas, working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N. Rly. Lucknow. R/o H.No. 568/87, Khailashpuri Jail Road Alambagh, Lucknow. 226005.
2. Sunil Ojha, Aged 53 year, 'C' S/o Lt. Sh. M.C.Ojha working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N. Rly. Lucknow. R/o H.No.D-3/381, Sector H.LDA Colony, Kanpur Road, Lucknow. 226012.
3. Deep Raj Fredrick, aged 42 years, 'C' S/o Sh. Donal Richardson Fredrick working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N. Rly. Lucknow. R/o C-180, Southcity, Rai Bareilly Road, Lucknow- 226002.
4. Shivam Shukla, 27 years, 'C's S/o Late Sh. Rajesh Kumar Shukla, working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N.Rly. Lucknow. R/o II-78-H CPH Railway colony, Alambagh, Lucknow-226005.
5. Amit Pandey, aged 28 years, 'C' S/o Sh. Rajendra Prasad Pandey, working as Lab.Assistant (C&M Lab.) N.Rly. Lucknow. R/o 548- V/168, Vikram Nagar, Manak Nagar, Lucknow. 226011.
ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 2 O.A. No.636/2022
6. Shyam Sunder Prasad, aged 29 years, 'C' S/o Lt. Sh. Bechu Prasad, working as Lab.Assistant (C&M Lab.) N.Rly. Lucknow. R/o Sector 1, E-392, LDA Colony, Kanpur Road, Lucknow. 226012.
7. Mohd. Nadeem, aged 30 years, 'C' S/o Lt. Sh. Mohd. Ateeq, working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N.Rly. Lucknow. R/o H.No.102, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Sector 6, Lucknow. 226010.
8. Suraj Kumar, aged 31 years, 'C' S/o late Sh. Gopal Sah, working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N.Rly. Lucknow. R/o Surya Nagar, Manak Nagar, Lucknow. 226011.
9. Viswajeet Kumar, aged 32 years, 'C' S/o Sh. Shyamsunder Prasad Chaurasiya working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N. Rly. Lucknow. R/o 87-E Sleeper Ground Railway Colony, Alambagh, Lucknow. 226005.
10. Mohd. Ubaid, aged 33 years, 'C' S/o Lt. Sh. Mohd. Umar, working as Lab. Assistant (C&M Lab.) N. Rly. Lucknow. R/o 433/61, Ram Nagar, Balaganj, Lucknow. 226003.
...Applicants.
(By Advocate: Mr. Yogesh Sharma) Versus
1. Union of India, through The General Manager, Northern Railway, Baroda House, New Delhi. 110001.
2. The Secretary, Railway Board, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. 110001.
ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 3 O.A. No.636/2022
3. The Chief Workshop Manager,
N.R. Loco Work shop, Charbagh,
Lucknow. 226004.
....Respondents.
(By Advocate: Mr. Anupam Raj and Mr. Gyanendra Singh)
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ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 4 O.A. No.636/2022
O RDER (ORAL)
Hon'ble Mrs. Pratima K. Gupta, Member (J):-
1. The present Original Application has been filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985. The applicants are seeking the following relief(s):
"(i) That the Hon'ble Tribunal may graciously be pleased to pass an order of quashing the impugned order dated 14.1.2022 (Annex A/1), declaring to the effect that the whole action on the part of the respondents not considering the request of the applicants for cadre review/restructuring in the cadre of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in Mechanical Department of the Railway is totally illegal, arbitrary and against the rules and consequently, pass an order directing the respondents to consider the request of the applicants for cadre restructuring in the cadre of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in Mechanical Department of the Railway at an early date within the specified time to reduce the stagnation in the cadre of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in Mechanical Department.
(ii) That the Hon'ble Tribunal may further graciously be pleased to pass an order directing the respondents to constitute a Committee to consider the cadre restructuring in cadre of Lab Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in Mechanical Department of the Railway.
(iii) Any other relief which the Hon'ble Tribunal deem fit and proper may also be granted to the applicants along with the costs of litigation."
2. Brief facts of the case, in a nutshell, are as under:
The applicants are presently working to the post of Lab Assistants, in the Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory, ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 5 O.A. No.636/2022 Mechanical Department of Northern Railway, Lucknow Division and have continued to the said post till today. Prior to 17.8.1998, the recruitment for the post of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in Mechanical Department was 100% direct recruitment in the entry scale of Rs. 3200-4950 and the next promotion was to the post of JCMA in the scale of Rs. 5000-8000/-. The Railway Board, vide circular dated 17.08.1998, changed the cadre of Lab.
Assistants of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory by introducing new pay scales. The next promotion to the post of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory is to the post of CMA, which is a selection post and only those who qualify for the selection after getting 60% marks are entitled for consideration for promotion. Since 1998, no cadre restructuring has been done in the cadre of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory of Mechanical Department as a result there is stagnation in the cadre. For the last 20 years, employees have been working on the same post without any promotion. As per the Govt. of India instructions, cadre review should be done every five years. Recently, the Committee for considering the cadre review recommended for cadre review in every three years, reducing the stagnation in the cadre. In the Railway, there is a procedure of cadre ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 6 O.A. No.636/2022 restructuring of Group 'C' and 'D' posts in every 10 years and even after 1998, two cadre restructurings have been done in the year 2003 and in the year 2013, but in the cadre of Lab. Assistant. However, in the Mechanical Department, no cadre restructuring has been done. Therefore, the applicants filed an OA No. 1332/2021, which was decided on 19.07.2021, wherein the respondents were directed to consider the representation of the applicants by passing an appropriate reasoned and speaking order. However, since the respondents did not comply with the order within the stipulated time and therefore the applicants filed CP/354/2021. During the pendency of the CP/354/2021, the respondents passed the impugned order dated 14.01.2022 rejecting the cause of the applicant. The CP/354/2021 was closed, with liberty to challenge the same as per rule. Accordingly, the applicants filed the present Original Application and prayed for the aforesaid relief(s).
3. The learned counsel for the respondents vehemently opposed the OA and relief prayed for by the applicants. He draws attention to the counter reply and submits that the Cadre Restructuring Committee 2023, for examining the need to restructure certain Group 'C' categories in Zonal Railways, has already been constituted with the approval of the Chairman/Railway Board and a notification has already ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 7 O.A. No.636/2022 been issued vide Board's letter dated 25.04.2022 and the applicants are at liberty to send their representation to the Cadre Restructuring Committee. Since the applicants have not preferred any representation, there is no cause in the present Original Application. The OA is premature to be heard and the same could be dismissed.
4. The learned counsel for the applicants filed a rejoinder, he confirms that a Cadre Restructuring Committee was constituted. However, in the scheme of the proceedings, the representations are not invited and the applicants were not informed about the constitution of any such committee. Therefore, he submits that even by the Committee constituted in 2023, the applicants' cause has not been considered by the respondents.
5. The learned counsel for the respondents submits that on the matter of such policy decisions, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has laid down the law in the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan vs. . UOI & Ors. (SCC 2000 Vol. 10, Page 664) that "Courts in the exercise of their jurisdiction will not transgress into the field of policy decision." Again, in the case of Sumangalam Nagrath vs. . UOI & Ors. (SSC 1999 (L&S) 1318), the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that "it is not for the Tribunal to examine the wisdom of rules..... policy ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 8 O.A. No.636/2022 decision is not debatable in judicial forum." Therefore, the applicants are not entitled for any relief(s) and the same may be dismissed.
6. The basic facts recorded hereinabove are not in dispute. The respondents themselves in the order dated 14.01.2022 have recognized the significance of cadre restructuring exercise in respect of Group 'C' and 'D' employees and stated that it is an important mechanism for rationalization of cadres and manpower management. Yet, it has been rejected by the respondents, stating that it was not feasible. The reasons for non-feasibility do not transpire in the said communication. For the sake of better appreciation, the order dated 14.01.2022 is reproduced herein below:
"1. The matter has been examined in Board's office and it is observed as under:
a) That for Cadre Restructuring exercise in respect of Group 'C' and 'D' staff on Indian Railways, there is well established machinery in the Ministry of Railways called as Cadre Restructuring Committee. Besides official side, this Committee also comprises staff side having representatives of both the recognized Labour Federations, i.e. All Indian Railwaymen Federation (AIRF) and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) who represent the entire Group 'C' and Group 'D' railway staff of national level. The review of various cadres is carried out in consultation and agreement with these recognized Labour Federations
b) That cadre restructuring is an important mechanism for rationalization of cadres and manpower management.
ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 9 O.A. No.636/2022 Therefore, while undertaking cadre restructuring exercise, changing functional, operational and administrative requirements arising due to modernization, computerization and technical up-gradation are also kept in view. Thus, the decision for review of a particular cadre is arrived at on the basis of a broad-based discussion in the Cadre Restructuring Committee duly taking into account the aforementioned aspects.
c) That cadre restructuring exercise for reviewing percentage distribution for different grades available in a cadre is carried out with an objective to achieve efficiency in the administration besides betterment of promotional prospects of the staff. This exercise is done on the basis of several considerations, e.g. nature of duties and responsibilities, promotional opportunities, number of grades available in the cadre, internal relatives, educational qualification, etc., along with functional, operational and administrative requirements. Thus, any comparison between different cadres by any category of staff is not-justified.
1.1 In view of the above, the demand for cadre restructuring of Lab Assistants of the Mechanical Department by the applicants is not feasible for acceptance."
For the reasons stated hereinabove, the Original Application is disposed of with a direction to the respondents to constitute a Special Committee for Cadre Restructuring that shall conduct an exercise of cadre restructuring in the cadre of Lab. Assistant of Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory in the Mechanical Department of the Railway to which the applicants belong. After the said committee is constituted, the committee shall be obliged to seek representation from the applicants, the ItemNo.79 (Court -3) 10 O.A. No.636/2022 committee shall consider these representations and submit its report, the respondents shall take it to its logical conclusion thereafter. These directions shall be complied within a period of twelve (12) weeks' from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this Order. We are conscious, of our limited jurisdiction in cases of cadre review, as the same is to be devolved to the experts, precisely, this has been done by us.
7. Accordingly, the OA is disposed of. No order as to costs.
(Dr. Anand S Khati) (Pratima K. Gupta)
Member (A) Member (J)
/suraj/