Hon’ble Manoj Misra, J.—By this petition, the Union of India through General Manager, North Central Railway, Subedarganj, Allahabad and its concerned officers, have challenged the order dated 19.4.2011 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Allahabad (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal) in Original Application No. 207 of 2010 preferred by the respondent No. 1 (hereinafter referred to as the claimant) for the benefit of Post Retirement Passes.

2. The claimant preferred Original Application No 207 of 2010 stating, inter alia, that he was initially appointed on 15.4.1975/13.3.1979 as Casual Khalasi in the North Central Railway, Head Quarter at Kanpur and was accorded temporary status on 13.3.1989 on the post of Khalasi. On 26.5.1995 he was transferred from Kanpur to New Delhi for absorption against a clear vacancy. Later, on 31.12.1996, after screening, he was absorbed and empanelled, as a regular Electrical Khalasi and was placed at serial No. 310 in the panel. Thereafter, on 17.8.1998, the claimant was transferred from New Delhi to Kanpur, from where he retired on 31.7.2008. Before his retirement, on 15.5.2008, the claimant submitted an application for post retirement passes, followed by another application dated 25.5.2008, which was rejected on 11.1.2010. The order dated 11.1.2010 has been brought on record as part of Annexure-1 to the writ petition. A perusal thereof goes to show that the Railway Authorities did not take into account half of the period of casual service rendered by the claimant before attainment of temporary status while calculating the period of qualifying service rendered by the claimant for pass entitlement. The relevant extract from the order dated 11.1.2010 is reproduced below:

“In terms of instructions contained in Rly. Board letter No. E/NG/11/70/CL/12 dated 14 Oct. 1980 half of the Ty. Status service as qualifying for pensionary benefit is admissible. As the casual service is not to be counted, the same may not be included for the purpose of pass entitlement.”

3. Challenging the order dated 11.1.2010 the claimant (respondent No. 1) preferred the Original Application No. 207 of 2010 on the ground that his service rendered as casual labour should have been taken into account for the purpose of ascertaining whether he completed the qualifying period of service for gaining entitlement to post-retirement passes. He further claimed that since the Railway Authorities had been taking half of the period of casual service for the purpose of calculating qualifying service for pensionary benefits, after absorption in the Railway Establishment, therefore, not counting the said period for the purpose of entitlement to post-retirement passes was unjustified.

4. The Railway Authorities, in their counter reply before the Tribunal, justified the order dated 11.1.2010 on the ground that the claimant had not completed 20 years service from the date of attaining temporary status till the date of his retirement, therefore, he was not entitled to post retirement passes. The service rendered as a casual labour is not to be counted for calculating qualifying service for the purpose of passes entitlement.

5. A supplementary counter reply was also filed on behalf of the Railway Authorities thereby bringing on record that the President of India by exercising power conferred under the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India has framed rules governing issuance of passes to the Railways’ servants. These rules are known as the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986. A complete copy of the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986 were provided to us during the course of hearing. The relevant provisions of the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986 are being reproduced herein below : “Rule 1. Short Title, Commencement and Application:

(1) These Rules may be called the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

(3) Except where spec