JUDGMENT

S. K. Mishra, J. - Admit.

2. By filing this writ petition, the Applicant/ Petitioner, a former employee of the East Cost Railways, assails the final order dated 11th August, 2014 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, Cuttack (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal' for brevity) dismissing his Original Application i.e. O.A. No.437 of 2012 mainly on the ground of delay and being barred by law of limitation.

In the aforesaid Original Application, the Applicant/ Petitioner being the Applicant had assailed the order of punishment dated 04.02.2004 imposing punishment of removal from service passed by the Respondent/ Opposite Party No.3- Production Engineer and Disciplinary Authority, Office of the Chief Workshop Manager, Carriage Repair Workshop, East Coast Railway, Mancheswar, Bhubaneswar, District-Khurda (hereinafter referred to as 'the Disciplinary Authority' for brevity) on the ground of gross violation of Rules, violation of principle of nature justice and the punishment being highly disproportionate to the gravity of the charge. The charge against the Applicant/ Petitioner was that he remained unauthorizedly absent from duties for about 2 ^ years i.e