Central Administrative Tribunal - Kolkata
Ajay Kumar Mandal vs Eastern Railway on 22 May, 2025
1 o.a. 350.01259.2019
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
KOLKATA BENCH, KOLKATA
No. O.A. 350/01259/2019 Heard on 08.05.2025
Date of order: 22.05.2025
Present : Hon'ble Mr. Anindo Majumdar, Administrative Member
SHRI AJAY KUMAR MANDAL, son of Shri Madho
Mandal, aged about 42 years, residing at
Lakshikantapur, Natta Math, Railway Quarter
No. 50/4, Post Office-Ghateswara, Police
Station-Mandir Bazar, District- 24-Parganas
(South), Pin-743343 and presently working to
the post of Trackman-II under Senior Section
Engineer (Permanent Way), Baruipur, Sealdah
Division, Eastern Railway, Kolkata-700144.
........ Applicant.
- VERSUS-
1. UNION OF INDIA service through the
General Manager, Eastern Railway, Kolkata,
17, N.S. Road, Fairlie Place, Kolkata-700001.
2. THE DIVISIONAL RAILWAY MANAGER,
Eastern Railway, Sealdah Division, DRM
Building, Kaiser Street, Kolkata - 700014.
3. THE SENIOR DIVISIONAL ENGINEER (C),
Eastern Railway. Sealdah Division, Kaiser
Street, Kolkata - 700014.
4. THE SENIOR SECTION ENGINEER
(PERMANENT WAY), Eastern Railway, Sealdah
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65=
1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone=
DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741
9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S=
West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER=
c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97
Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda
Reason: I am the author of this document
Location:
Date: 2025.05.27 13:25:15+05'30'
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2 o.a. 350.01259.2019
Division, Baruipur, District- 24-Parganas
(South), Kolkata-700144.
5. SHRI TAHARUL PAIK, Trackman-IV, under
Senior Section Engineer (Permanent Way),
Asansol Division, Eastern Railway, District-
Burdwan, Pin-
....... Respondents.
For the Applicant : Mr. P.C. Das, Counsel
Ms. T. Maity, Counsel
For the Respondents : Mr. A.K. Dasgupta, Counsel
ORDER
In accordance with the order of the Hon'ble Chairman, CAT, Principal Bench, dated 10.09.2021 issued under Sub -Section (6) of Section 5 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, this matter can be taken up by a Bench consisting of a single Member. Accordingly, this matter is taken up for disposal by this Single Bench.
2. The applicant has filed this Original Application, seeking the following relief(s):
"a) To quash and/or set aside the impugned office order dated 02.02.2019 issued by the Senior Section Engineer (Permanent Way), Eastern Railway, Sealdah Division, Baruipur by which the prayer of the applicant for cancellation of his Inter Railway Mutual Transfer Application has not been considered and rejected by violation of the Railway Board's Circular and also by violation of the Railway Board's instruction to that effect being Annexure A-5 of this original application.
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
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3 o.a. 350.01259.2019
b) To pass an appropriate order directing upon the respondent authority that in terms of the Railway Board's Circular being RBE No. 53 of 2006 dated 12.05.2006 and RBE No. 131 of 2017 dated 22.09.2017 the prayer for cancellation of Inter Railway Mutual Transfer Application of the applicant may be accepted and further direct the respondents to allow the applicant to resume duty to the post of Trackman-II under Senior Section Engineer (Permanent Way). Baruipur, Sealdah Division, Eastern Railway, Kolkata-700144.
c) To pass an appropriate order directing upon the respondent authority that in the light of the Railway Board's Circular being RBE No. 53 of 2006 dated 12.05.2006 and RBE No. 131 of 2017 dated 22.09.2017 and in the light of the landmark decision of this Hon'ble Tribunal dated 28.06.2019 in OA No. 350/778/2019 in the case of Sri Manish Kumar -vs- South-Eastern Railway, the prayer for cancellation of Inter Railway Mutual Transfer Application of the applicant may be accepted as because such prayer of Inter Railway Mutual Transfer Application of the applicant and the private respondent was not considered by the railway authority in a stipulated time in terms of the Railway Board's instruction;"
3. The applicant is at present working to the post of Trackman-II at Baruipur, Sealdah Division, Eastern Railway. He had submitted an application dated 3.11.18 seeking Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer with Shri Taharul Paik. The said application was signed by both Shri Ajay Kumar Mandal and Shri Taharul Paik (Annexure R/2). The Senior Divisional Engineer/ Co-ordination, Eastern Railway, Sealdah forwarded the said joint application of Shri Ajay Kumar Mandal and Shri Taharul Paik to the Sr. Divisional Personnel Officer, vide his letter dated 11.12.2018. Thereafter, vide order of Sr. Divisional Personnel Officer, Eastern Railway, Sealdah dated 7.8.2019 (Annexure R/6) the applicant was transferred to Asansol Division, Eastern Railway on Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer with Shri Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2025.05.27 13:25:15+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2024.3.0 4 o.a. 350.01259.2019 Taharul Paik. The said transfer order, inter alia, provided that no backtracking will be entertained in terms of RBE No. 53/2006. Thereafter, Shri Taharul Paik was relieved from his post vide order of Sr. Divisional Personnel Officer dated 19.8.2019 Shri Taharul Paik reported at his new place of posting on 14.08.2019. The applicant thereafter made a representation dated 09.01.2019 to Sr. DEN, Sealdah, Eastern Railway, seeking cancellation of his Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer application.
However, his representation in this regard was rejected by the Senior Section Engineer, Eastern Railway, Baruipur, vide letter 02.02.19 (Annexure A/5). Aggrieved by the rejection of his request for cancellation of his application for Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer, the applicant has filed this Original Application seeking the above mentioned relief(s).
4. Heard the Learned Counsel for both the sides and considered the material on record.
5. At hearing, the submissions made by the Ld. Counsel for the applicants are summarised below.
a) Although the applicant had submitted a joint application dated 03.11.2018 for mutual transfer alongwith Shri Taharul Paik, the order for Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer was issued only, on 07.08.2019 which was Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
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b) Since a considerable period of time had elapsed between the date of which made an application for mutual transfer and the date of which the Inter Divisional Mutual transfer order was issued, he had submitted an application dated 09.01.2019 requesting that the Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer order be cancelled.
c) The applicant had settled down in Lakhikantapur and is no longer interested in Inter Divisional Transfer.
d) His request for cancellation of the Inter Divisional Transfer order was rejected by the respondents authority arbitrarily.
6. At hearing, the submissions made by the Ld. Counsel for the respondents are summarised below:
a) Shri Taharul Paik, TM-IV joined the Sealdah Division on 14.08.2019.
b) The Railway Board's Circular No. RBE No. 53 of 2006 dated 21.04.2006 and RBE No. 131 of 2017 dated 22.09.2017 stipulated that no request for backtracking in cases of Mutual Transfer will be entertained under any circumstances. Hence the request of the applicant for cancellation of the Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer order was not considered.
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda
DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
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7. The applicant has relied on the order of this Tribunal in O.A. 350/00778/2019 dated 28.06.2019 and has submitted that he is similarly circumstanced as the applicant in the said O.A.
8. I have gone through the order of this Tribunal dated 28.06.2019 in O.A. No. 350/00778/2019. An extract from the said order is reproduced below:
"In the light of the aforesaid provisions fixing a specific time limit for forwarding request, consideration and disposal of mutual transfer request, we note that no plausible reasons have been furnished to justify the following:
(i) Abnormal delayed action (in 2017-18) on a request for mutual transfer made in 2014:
(ii) Protracted inaction on the prayer made by the applicant in December, 2017 to treat the mutual transfer request as cancelled, before the same was acted upon, in May, 2018;
(iii) Delayed forwarding of mutual transfer request of 2014 in May, 2018 after the request for cancellation, purportedly made in December, 2017, was received:
(iv) Abnormal delay in forwarding request for cancellation of mutual transfer application, made in December, 2017, on 07.03.2019 by the SSE (C&W].
Santragachi that too after 12.02 2019 order (Annexure-A/6) was issued;
(v) The reason why the applicant shall be made to bear the brunt of such delayed action.
7. From the communication dt. 26.06.2019 (quoted supra), we would further discern that as on 27.06.2019 when this Tribunal directed the Respondents not to relieve applicant, he was very much there in Santragachi serving as Helper II and his reliever Mukul Singha had not joined in his place.
8. In the aforesaid backdrop, we direct the Railway authorities to allow the applicant to be posted at his present place of posting cancelling his prayer for mutual transfer. The Respondents shall, however, be at liberty to act in accordance with law."
Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
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9. In the instant case, the applicant had submitted a joint application dated 03.11.2018 Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer order. After processing the said application, the competent authority passed an order dated 02.02.2019 whereby the Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer of Shri Ajay Kumar Mandal (the applicant) and Shri Taharul Paik was ordered. The said Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer order had been passed within 03 months of the application made for the same. Although the respondents ought to have taken this action on the application dated 03.11.2018 for Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer in a more expeditious manner, I do not consider such delay to be abnormal or inordinate. Hence, I do not consider the applicant in the instant O.A. is similarly circumstanced as the applicant in O.A. No. 350/00778/2019.
10. The Inter Divisional Mutual Transfer ordered between the applicant and Shri Taharul Paik dated 07.08.2018 (Annexure R/6) states, inter alia, that no backtracking will be entertained in terms of RBE No. 53/2006. An extract from RBE No. 53/2006 dated 21.04.2006 is reproduced below: "RBE No.53/2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA/BHARAT SARKAR MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS/RAIL MANTRALAYA (RAILWAY BOARD) No.E(NG)1-2006/TR/6. New Delhi, dated 21-04-2006. The General Manager (P) All Indian Railways and PUs Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2025.05.27 13:25:15+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2024.3.0 8 o.a. 350.01259.2019 (As per standard list) Sub: Inter-Railway and Intra-Railway transfers on mutual exchange.
As the Railways are aware in terms of extant procedure in vogue vide para 310 of Indian Railway Establishment Manual, Vol.I, 1989, transfers on the basis of mutual exchange are allowed with now loss or minimum loss of seniority. Instances have come to notice where employees make request for such mutual exchange transfer and later on backout when orders are issued and even after one of the two employees gets relieved to join the new place.
3. Board have reviewed the matter and decided that as mutual transfers are ordered with the consent of both the parties, it should be made clear right at the time of forwarding applications for mutual transfer that no request for backtracking from the mutual exchange arrangement will be entertained under any circumstances. Strict adherence to this procedure may please be ensured."
11. Further RBE No. 131/2017 dated 22.09.2017 stipulates, inter alia, that "3. As the mutual transfers are ordered with the consent of both the employee's it should be made clear right at the time of forwarding applications that no request for backtracking from the mutual exchange arrangement will be entertained under any circumstances (Board's letter No.E(NG)I-2006/TR/6 dated 21.04.2006 refers)."
12. In view of the above discussion, I am of the view that the respondents were justified in rejecting the request of the applicant made vide his representation dated 09.01.2019 for cancellation of the Inter Railway Mutual Transfer application.
13. I am, therefore, of the view that this Original Application lacks merit. The O.A. is accordingly dismissed. There will be no order as to costs.
(Anindo Majumdar) Administrative Member drh Digitally signed by DhanuRam Hansda DN: C=IN, O=Personal, T=6595, OID.2.5.4.65= 1335963871619011253g9LkE5GCXYJC4, Phone= DhanuRam ae67f2fe2825a3d09ab7e1f6c3245d45a1b89c125741 9c6eb7e8dad5b6505515, PostalCode=711112, S= West Bengal, SERIALNUMBER= c6a08597b4f862e0885e118c2835105ca8a490fa0a97 Hansda 3f858e89b777a0a70d71, CN=DhanuRam Hansda Reason: I am the author of this document Location:
Date: 2025.05.27 13:25:15+05'30' Foxit PDF Reader Version: 2024.3.0