S.K.JHA, J.

1. This is a defendants second appeal. A cross-objection by the plaintiff has also been filed. The plaintiff respondent had. instituted a suit for recovery of Rs. 4.494/11/5. as detailed in the schedule of claim appended to the plaint, on a declaration that the entire amount of debits raised against him and the orders demanding debits from him by the appellant and the withholding of his salary and dearness allowance and rendering him surplus for the period from 1-2-1951 to 8-3-1951 and from 1-4-1951 to 15-9-1951 were illegal and ultra vires the principles of natural justice and the mandatory provisions of the Indian Railways Establishment Code (hereinafter to be referred to as the Establishment Code). The plaintiff respondents, accordingly, claimed that such orders and the consequential deductions were not binding as against him.

2. Shortly stated, the case of the respondent was that he had been appointed as a Clerk in the Railway Reserved Store Depot, Samastipur. on the 20th of October, 1943, in the then Oudh Tirhut Railway. He was posted in different capacities from place to place as a Clerk, a Manager and a Depot Store Keeper from the date of his appointment