Judgment :-

S.B. Sinha, J.

1.1. Leave granted in SLP (C) No.18948 of 2007.

2.2. Application of the second proviso appended to clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India and Rule 14 (ii) of the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968 (hereinafter referred to, for the sake of brevity, as the "said rules") is involved in these appeals.

3.3. K. Babu Rajendran, L. Arputharaj, G. Lakshmanan, V.S. Chandran and P. Manoharan, had been working in Carriage and Wagon Workshop of the South Eastern Railway Administration of Union of India.

4. One S.M. Krishnan was a Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, Carriage and Wagon, Golden Rock Workshop in the South Eastern Railway Administration. He was the disciplinary authority of the workmen working in the said workshop. He superannuated on 31st January, 2004. He was to go to his native place. He was to board Train No. 6128 from Tiruchirappalli Railway station for Chennai. Some officers had come to platform No.4 of the said Railway station to see him off.

4.5. A disciplinary proceeding was initiated against L. Arputharaj. On the basis of a report submitted by the enquiry officer, he was imposed a punishment of dismissal from servic