MUKUL MUDGAL, J.

( 1 ) RULE DB. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, the writ petition is taken up for final hearing.

( 2 ) THE Respondent Khairati Lal was working as APO as a Group 'b' officer and was deemed to be considered by a DPC for being placed in the senior scale on adhoc basis upon being found fit by such DPC. For the period from 1989 to 1993, the DPC held, did not find him fit for promotion to the senior scale. On 25. 03. 1991, the Respondent was issued a charge sheet for imposition of major penalty and another charge sheet dated 24. 10. 1997 for the imposition of minor penalty that resulted in the findings of the DPC regarding his promotion to the senior scale being kept in sealed cover. In both the enquiries the Respondent was found guilty and he was imposed minor penalty of stop Page of three sets of privileges passes in the major penalty charge sheet and three sets of privilege tickets in the minor penalty proceedings.

( 3 ) THE Respondent filed OA being No. 1704/1997 before the Central administrative Tribunal challenging the departmental enquiries and the punishment imposed upon him. The said OA was disposed of by the Tribunal vide its order dated 4th September, 1998 directing the Petitioners to take a decision with regard to the date from which his promotion would take effect and to pay consequential benefits, if any, within a period of three months from the receipt of the copy of the order.

( 4 ) IN consonant with the order of the OA, the matter was considered and General Manager held that the Respondent could be promoted only with effect from 31. 08. 1998, when he took charge of the higher post. This led to another chain of litigation. In the second OA filed by the Respondent being oa No. 1182/2001 before the Central Administrative Tribunal, it was directed by the Tribunal to give adhoc promotion to the Respondent in the senior scale from the date of his juniors have been promoted alongwith consequential benefits within a period of two months from the date of communication of this order. The Tribunal quashed the order dated 10. 03. 1999 to the extent that the claim of the Respondent for consideration him in the higher rank from the date of his juniors has been promoted alongwith consequential benefits has been rejected by the Petitioners.

( 5 ) THIS writ petition challenges the order dated 8th August, 2002 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in OA No. 1182/2001 filed by respondent No. 1. The only issue we are concerned with in this writ petition is in respect of the minor penalty and the application of Railway Board's letter dated 17th January, 1996, which reads as follows:-

"however, in the case of ad hoc promotions from Group 'b' to group 'a' and promotion within Group 'a' (upto and including promotions to SA Grade)those imposed with minor penalties of Censure, stop Page of passes, PTOs recovery from pay, reduction to a lower stage in the time scale of pay, and withholding of increments may also be promoted prospectively in their turn with reference to their position in earlier panel (s) of the DPC. In the case of those imposed with minor penalty of reduction to a lower stage in time-scale of pay or "withholding they cannot, however, be promoted before the expiry of the penalty. However, where the penalty of withholding of increment is to become operative from a future date, the persons concerned should be promoted in his turn prospectively with reference to his position in the earlier panel of the dpc and the penalty imposed in the promotion grade of a period which would not result in greater monetary loss. The pay on promotion in all these cases should be fixed under the normal rules with reference to the date of actual promotion. "

( 6 ) WE are concerned with the latter portion of the said instructions of the Railway Board's letter which led to the imposition of minor penalty and the effects thereof. The Tribunal has dealt with the issue in the following terms:

"6.