Central Administrative Tribunal - Kolkata
Pappu Kumar Singh vs South Eastern Railway on 5 January, 2023
1337/2022 & ors. ee Te Nee Nee § CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL: "°* * f'¢R0 | KOLKATA BENCH | ne L | KOLKATA a , 262 Date of Order; 05° OL 2025 Coram: Hon'bie Mr. Jayesh V. Bhairavia, Judicial Member Hon'ble Mr. Suchitto Kumar Das, Administrative Member 0.A. No. 350/1337/2022 0.A. No. 350/1338/2022 0.A. No. 350/1339/2022 0.A. No. 350/1340/2022 0.A. No. 350/1343/2022 0.A. No, 350/1345/2022 0.A. No. 350/1346/2022 O.A. No. 350/1348/2022 0.A. No. 350/1349/2022 0.A. No. 350/1350/2022 0.A. No. 350/1351/2022 0.A. No. 350/1352/2022 0.A. No. 350/1353/2022 0.A. No. 350/1359/2022 0.A. No. 350/1360/2022 0.A. No, 350/1363/2022 0.A. No. 250/1364/2022 0.A. No. 350/1365/2022 0.A. No. 350/1366/2022 0.A. No. 350/1368/2022 0.A. No. 350/1369/2022 0.A. No. 350/1376/2022 0.A. No. 350/1377/2022 0.A. No. 350/1378/2022 0.A. No. 350/1379/2022 0.A. No. 350/1380/2022 PAPPU KUMAR SINGH SANDIP BHATTACHARYYA TANMOY KHANRA RANA MONDAL ANITA DEVI BAGHEL ASHISH SANTRA UPEN BISWAS AMIT KUMAR GHOSH SOUMALYA BE] AMIT HALDER BHUPATI DAS TARUN SARDER PROSUN SANTRA SUDEB GHOSH MADHUSUDAN DAS RAKHI RABIDAS SANJIT DAS | RAKIF MALLICK SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH SATYEN PRAMANIK TAPAS DAS RAKESH KUMAR DAS SOMNATH HALDAR RUMA BINDU SMRITI CHAKRABORTY BISHNU CHAKRABORTTY 0.A. No. 350/1391/2022 0.A. No. 350/1392/2022 0.A. No. 350/1393/2022 0.A. No. 350/1394/2022 0.A. No. 350/1395/2022 0.A. No. 350/1396/2022 0.A. No. 350/1407/2022 0.A. No. 350/1408/2022 0.A. No. 350/1409/2022 2 1337/2022 & ors. ARITRA NARAYAN MAJUMDER ANUPAM JANA RABIA NISA PALASH BISWAS GOURAB PAUL BISWAJIT HALDER CHETAN MANDI MD ABDUL HAI MONDAL ASIF MALLICK VS. 1. Union of India, service through the General Manager, South Eastern Railway, Garden Reach, Kolkata-700043. 2. The Chairman, Railway Board & Chief Executive Officer (CEQ), Rail Bhavan, Raisina Marg, New Delhi-110001. 3. The Principal Chief Personnel Officer, South Fastern Railway, Garden Reach, Kolkata-700043. 4, The Medical Director, South Eastern Railway Central Hospital, Garden Reach, Kolkata-700043. setssanes Respondents For The Applicant(s): Mr. A. Chakraborty, Counsel Mr. Arpa Chakraborty, Counsel Ms. P. Mondal, Counsel For The Respondent(s): Mr. R. Halder, Counsel 3 1337/2022 & ors. ORDER
Per: Hon'ble Suchitto Kumar Das, Administrative Member Aggrieved with the rejection of their re-engagement as paramedical staff, the applicants have approached this Tribunal under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 praying for the following common relief:
"a) Office order dated 30.06.2022 issued by the respondent no. 3 ending the service of various paramedical staffs including the applicant is not tenable in the eye of law and as such the same may be quashed.
b) An order do issue directing the respondents to extend the benefit of Railway Board's letter dated 30.06.2022 in favour of the applicant and thereby re-
engaging him and allowing him to continue in the post of Hospital Attendant all under the authority of the respondent no. 4 and to certify and mark the presence and attendance of the applicant in such capacity directly under the respondents and thereby not to disturb the service of the applicant.
c) Railway Board's letter dated 30.06.2022 to the extent of engagement of paramedical staffs through GeM i.e. service provider is not tenable in the eye of law and as such the same should be quashed.
d) An order do issue directing the respondent authorities to re-engage the applicant in his respective post in the category of paramedical staffs and thereby to release salaries to the applicants month by month without stopping the same or decreasing salaries of the applicants.
€) To grant all consequential benefits.
ff) Costs and incidentals.
Pr
g) Any other order or orders as the Hon'ble Tribunal deems fit and proper."
2. Facts of the case, in brief, are as follows :-
The applicants were engaged as Hospital Attendants in the scale of Rs. 18,000/- p.m. basic pay in terms of Railway Board's letter dated 28.03.2020, authorising the Railways and the Divisions to engage para-medical staff beyond the sanctioned strength. The applicant continued to be engaged on contract basis up to 30.06.2022 by virtue of instructions contained in Railway Board's letters extending the engagement of such staff over and above the sanctioned strength. Following Railway Board's instructions contained in mS 4 1337/2022 & ors.
letter dated 30.06.2022, services of the applicants were discontinued w.e.f. 30.06.2022. The respondents, i.e, South Eastern Railway, subsequentily filled up 13 positions of Hospital Attendants through GeM on contract basis. None of the applicants were engaged by the respondents as Hospital Attendant after 30.06.2022. | Learned Counsel for the applicant would refer to a letter dated 30.06.2022, issued by Railway Board, allowing the Zonal Railways to engage retired Paramedical Staff (in Group "C") and hiring of Paramedical Staff (in Group "C") on contract basis for a further period of 01 year, which reads as under :-
"GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (BHARAT SARKAR) MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (RAIL MANTRALYA) (RAILWAY BOARD) No. E(NG)1I/2005/RC-4/SC/2 Pt. | New Delhi, dated 30.06.2022 The General Manager {P) All Zonal Railways/Pus & RDSO, (As per Standard mail list) Sub : Engagement of retired para-medical staff ( in Group "C") and hiring of para-medical staff (in Group "C") on contract basis.
Ref : Boara's letter No. E(NG}II/2005/RC-4/SC/2 Pt. | dated 19.01.2022.
In continuation of this office letter of even number cited under reference on the above subject, it has now been decided to extend the engagement of retired para-medical staff and hiring of para- medical staff on contract basis {in Group "C") within the sanctioned strength against clear vacancies for a further period of one year beyond 30.06.2022 i.e. upto 30.06.2023 subject to clear availability of fund. Hiring of contractual staff shall be governed by existing terms and conditions.
3. it has also been decided that engagement/hiring of para-medical staff (in Group "C") on contract basis should mandatorily be done through GeM.
Sd/-
(A. Narayana Rao) Deputy Directory Estt. (NG) Il Railway Board"
3. Further, Learned counsel for the applicants would submit that :-
4. 5 1337/2022 & ors.
i) Sanctioned strength of Hospital Attendants should include the post of Aya (female) also. In that case, the number of vacancies will increase and all the 35 applicants should be allowed to work upto 30.06.2023 against the vacancies within the sanctioned strength, in terms of Railway Board's letter dated 30.06.2022.
ii) Vacancy position indicated by South Eastern Railway is of the year 2017, and the current number of vacancies are likely to be more.
iii) Vacancies should have been filled up from out of the applicants in this OA, as they were already working in the organization, instead of through GeM, as the respondents have allegedly done.
iv) Pay slips issued by the respondents mentioned the date of superannuation of the applicants, indicating the intention on the part of the respondents to consider the engagement of the applicants on a long term basis.
Learned Counsel, on behalf of the respondents, have filed their reply and denied the claim of the applicants.
Learned Counsel for the respondents would mainly submit that, keeping in view the pandemic situation because of outbreak of Corona Virus disease (COVID) in the month of March, 2020, it was apprehended that extra Paramedical Staff will be required for handling the emergent situation of the pandemic. To meet the situation, Railway Board vide their letter dated 28.03.2020 (Annexure-R/1 of Reply), authorized General Managers/DRMs and CAOs, in Railways, to engage Retired Paramedical Staff upto age of 65 years or to hire Paramedical Staff on contract basis over and above the sanctioned strength of the cadre, depending upon the requirement. This was 6 1337/2022 & ors.
on purely a temporary measure and after the expiry of one month the status- quo ante was to be restored with regard to total strength and delegation of power unless extended by further orders.
Subsequently, the Railway Board, vide letter dated 31.03.2020 (Annexure-R/2 of Reply) had extended the engagement period of Paramedical Staff.
4.1 Pursuant to the aforesaid circular, the South Eastern Railway had issued notification dated 07.08.2020 (Annexure-R/3 of Reply) inviting online applications from the open market for the health emergency due to Covid-19 pandemic and meet the situation in view of public health emergency.
Accordingly, on verification of documents of the candidates for contractual engagement to the post of Hospital Attendant (HA) and other medical Technicians, a total of 33 male and 09 female candidates were engaged in the post of Hospital Attendant towards contractual for utilizing their services in Quarantine/Isolation wards exclusively for Covid-19 patients at the Central Hospital, Garden Reach. Their engagement was purely on temporary basis for a period of 03 months or till 31.12.2020.
All the applicants herein (total 35 in number) had joined in the post of Hospital Attendant and their appointment/engagement was over and above the sanctioned strength of the said Hospital. The said engagement of Hospital Attendant was extended as per the Railway Board's orders and lastly extended up to 19.01.2022(Annexure-R/4 of Reply).
Learned Counsel would vehemently submit that, as per the notification dated 19.01.2022 specifically directed "to extend the engagement of retired para-medical staff and hiring of para-medical staff on contract basis (in Group 7 1337/2022 & ors.
"C") within the sanctioned strength and also over and above sanctioned strength to meet the requirements for handling the COVID-19 pandemic or a further period of three months beyond 31.03.2022 ie., up to 30.06.2022 with the same terms and conditions as contained in Board's letter of 2020.
4.2 It is submitted that the letter dated 19.01.2022 permitted extension of the scheme up to 30.06.2022. The said letter is enabling, But it did not mandate for the same to continue all divisions rather directed the divisions to assess their needs and their availability of funds before such », continuation/extension. After the pandemic situation came into control and / the Central Government lifted all the legal restrictions on 09.02.2022, the situation was reviewed by medical department of South Eastern Railway and it was found that there was no justification for extending the period of Paramedical Staff engaged on contractual basis. However, those who were engaged against vacant sanctioned post are continuing. As such no right was accrued in favour of the applicants for keeping their engagement beyond 30.06.2022.
eet The Railway Board's circular of 30.06.2022 specifically directed that the zones/divisions could engage contractual personnel to the extent of sanctioned strength through GeM. The respondents have followed the orders of the Railway Board and para-medical staff to the extent of sanctioned strength only have been engaged through GeM. The applicants were informed and written undertaking from them was taken that their engagement was of purely temporary nature and that they will have no claim to regular employment.
4.3 Learned Counsel for the respondents would reiterate that, the applicant herein were engaged as Hospital Attendant as a measure to combat Covid-19 \e
8 1337/2022 & ors.
situation and these staff were engaged over and above existing sanctioned strength purely on temporary basis.
Further, it is stated that the Garden Reach Hospital/ South Eastern Railway Hospital have sanctioned strength as on 01.09.2022 : sanctioned strength combined of five categories of Group "C" as per Railway Board's order Regular sanctioned strength-94 (HA-56), On Roll-94 (HA-56) : vacancy- Nil of Hospital Attendants and whereas on 01.08.2020 sanctioned strength combined of five categories 80, On Roll- 67 : vacancy-13 and all such regular/sanctioned posts of Hospital Attendants were filled on or after
-&}07.08.2020 through GeM; an advertisement dated 07.08.2020 had been published only for Covid-19 outburst and none but any of the applicant as appointed vide notification dated 07.08.2020 were against permanent vacancies as the norms and criteria of such regular appointments were different and those should only be made by GeM as per Railway Board's circular/notification. Therefore, the applicants cannot claim any appointment or extension of their engagement as a matter of right and as such they are not entitled to prayers sought in this OA. 7
5. The applicants have filed their rejoinder and reiterated their submissions stated in the original application. Additionally, it is stated that there are many vacancies and the respondents ought to have issued an order of extension in favour of the applicants. In support of it, Learned Counsel for the applicants would place reliance on vacancy post of Grade "C" staff of Medical Department as on 01.09.2017 (Annexure 4/2 of Rejoinder). It is submitted that vacancy position indicated by the respondents is of the year 2017 and as such the current number of vacancy are likely to be more, therefore they should not disengage the applicants. The core submission of 9 1337/2022 & ors.
Learned Counsel for the applicants is that-one set of contractual Paramedical © Staff ought not to be replaced by another set of contractual Paramedical Staff even through the GeM portal.
6. Learned Counsel for the respondents, by relying upon judgment passed by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation Ltd. vs. Mahadeva Laxman Raval reported in (2006) 13 SCC 15 would submit that, the applicants were purely engaged on temporary basis to meet with Covid-19 pandemic situation, and, that no right has been vested in their favour.
Further, he would also place reliance on judgment passed by Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Rajasthan State Roadways Transport Corporation vs. Paramjeet Singh in Civil Appeal No. 4593 of 2019 decided on 03.05.2019 to submit that the terms of the appointment clearly indicated that the applicants were appointed on a purely contractual basis and the engagement of the service could be dispensed with without notice at any stage. The Hon'ble Apex Court, in the said judgment with regard to the terms of the contractual engagement, upheld the action of employer to terminate the engagement of contractual employees.
Learned Counsel for the applicant had filed his written notes of arguments and reiterated his submissions as referred in para 3 hereinabove.
7. Heard Learned Counsel for the parties and perused the materials on record.
In the present case, indisputably, the applicants herein were engaged purely on contractual basis/ temporary basis as Hospital Attendants (HA) pursuant to a notification dated 07.08.2020 issued by South Eastern Railway. | The paramount terms and conditions as stipulated in the said notification was 10 1337/2022 & ors.
4 ' that the selected candidates had to work in COVID wards ensuring all precautions. The contractual Paramedical Staff including the Hospital Attendants entering into contract with the Railways will not have any claim or right for his/her continuation in service or automatic extension of the terms of contract services, or would not have any right in respect of considering their contract period irregular selection through Railway Recruitment Board etc., nor will it confer any right for regularization or absorption. The applicants herein were aware of the said terms and conditions since it is not in dispute that they were engaged purely on temporary basis.
18. The other submission of Learned Counsel for the applicants that, the applicant are required to be re-engaged or further extended in their engagement in terms of Railway Board's letter dated 30.06.2022 is concerned, the same, in our considered view, is not tenable. This circular merely permitted the Zonal Railways and Divisions to engage contractual staff to the extent of sanctioned strength through GeM for a period of one year from 30.06.2022. Implicit in these instructions is the direction that the requirement of such personnel are to be assessed by the zones / divisions keeping the funds position in mind.
9. Argument of the learned counsel for the applicants that the vacancy was wrongly determined by or that the vacancies pertain to an earlier year does not hold water because it was left to the Administration to assess their requirement and engage the personnel with the proviso that the engagement of such staff and the existing contingent of staff will collectively not exceed the sanctioned strength. Mention of date of retirement of the applicant on the pay slip appears to be an obvious error and is of no significance when seen against the overwhelming evidence indicating clear intention on the part of the oo 14 1337/2022 & ors.
.
respondents to treat the engagement of the applicants as a purely temporary mas fan we measure.
The other contention of the applicants that the engagement of required number of contractual paramedical staff should have been done by extending the services of the applicants instead of engaging other staff through GeM is also not tenable. It can be seen that Railway Board's circular clearly directs the Railway establishment to engage such personnel through GeM and the respondents have followed the procedure lald down by their superior authority. Under the facts and circumstances as stated hereinabove, the Y :)judements relied upon by the Learned Counsel for the applicants will not % prove helpful.
i0. inthe light of the above discussions, the OA stands dismissed. No costs.
(Suchi E {Jayesh V. Bhairavia} "Adminibtrative Member Judicial Member gl , :