The court determined that a railway servant should be reverted only to the immediate lower post, not to the lowest position, consistent with established procedures.

JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. Invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction vested upon this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioner has preferred this writ petition calling in question the legality, validity and correctness of impugned order dated 08/11/2024 (Annexure P-12) passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur Bench by which petitioner’s original application No. 200/1062/2015 has been dismissed and the order dated 06/02/2015 (Annexure P-8) passed by the Revisional Authority as well as the order dated 05/06/2014 (Annexure P-6) passed by the Appellate Authority have been affirmed, thereby, holding that petitioner has to suffer the punishment of reversal from the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) to the Post of Technician Grade – III for a period of 1 year which shall operate to postponement of increment and thereafter, the status of the petitioner would be restored and the intervening period from the date of termination to reinstatement shall be treated as Dies non.

2. The aforesaid challenge has been made on the following factual backdrop :-

(i) Petitioner was originally appointed as Technician Grade – III in the pay scale of Rs. 5200-20200/- + GP 1900 PB-1 and thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Technician Grade – II in the pay scale of Rs. 5200 – 20200/- + GP 2400 PB-1 and then promoted to the post of Technician Grade – I in the pay scale of Rs. 5200 – 20200/- + GP 2800 PB-1 and thereafter, to the post of Master Craftsman with pay scale of Rs. 9300-34800/- + GDP 4200 PB-2 and ultimately, he was promoted to the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) with pay scale of Rs. 9300-34800/-+ GP 4200 PB-2.

(ii) On 15/07/2013, petitioner was issued charge-sheet (Annexure P-1) for remaining unauthorizedly absent from 19/06/2013 to 15/07/2013 and after conducting departmental enquiry against him, the Disciplinary Authority vide punishment order dated 11/03/2014 (Annexure P-4) imposed extreme punishment of removal from service without sanctioning of compassionate allowance with immediate effect against the petitioner.

(iii) Against the punishment order passed by the Disciplinary Authority, petitioner preferred an appeal whereby the Appellate Authority vide order dated 05/06/2014 (Annexure P-6) modified the punishment order and inflicted the punishment of reversal from the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) pay Rs. 13960+ Rs. 4200/- (GP) in PB-2 pay Rs. 9300-34800/- to the post of Technician Grade – III in PB-1 Rs. 5200-20200 Rs. 1900/- (GP) by fixing at stage Rs. 5200/- + Rs. 1900/- (GP) for a period of 3 years and after completion of punishment period, his pay will be fixed at Rs. 13960/- + GP Rs. 4200/- in PB-2 Rs. 9300-34800 and the period of punishment of 3 years shall operate to postpone future increments and the intervening period from the date of original penalty to joining duty shall be treated as dies non. The punishment shall take effect from the date of joining the duty and further he will be posted at Birsinghpur TSS under ADEE/TRD/Manendragarh.

(iv) Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied, petitioner then filed a revision petition whereby the Revisional Authority, by its order dated 06/02/2015 (Annexure P-8), while upholding the order of the Appellate Authority, slightly modified it and reduced the period of 3 years to 1 year and after completion of punishment, petitioner be restored to the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) and he shall be posted at Kargi Road in OHE Depot.

(v) Challenging the aforesaid punishment finally imposed upon the petitioner, he filed original application before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur but remained unsuccessful as by order