Prior OTA judgment in rem extends to similarly situated AC coach escorting staff for halt periods.

ORDER

(As per Hon’ble Dr. Lata Baswaraj Patne, Judicial Member)

By this OA, the applicants are seeking the following relief:

“…………to direct the respondents to grant arrears of overtime Allowance / wages for the period from Jan 2005 to March 2022 to ACCM and ACCA here in i.e. (Escorting Staff of AC coaches) On strength of this Hon’ble Tribunal Judgment in O.A.631 of 2016 and confirmed by the Hon’ble High court in W.P.No.7564 of 2019 and Upheld by Hon’ble Supreme Court in SLP No.2498 of 2022 dated 11.03.2022 as the applicant are similarly situated and seeking similar relief and pass such other order /orders as deem and fit and proper in the interest of principals of Natural Justice.”

2. The brief facts of the case are that applicants are all working as Escorting and maintenance Staff working in AC Coaches in Nanded Division of S.C. Railway. Their grievance is that they are not being paid OTA allowance / wages for the half period when they reach the Destination Station and they are performing round the clock and relieved only at the HQ station where they started. Aggrieved by non-payment of OTA, some of the Escorting staff earlier approached this Hon’ble Tribunal by filing OA/21/631/2016 and the said OA was allowed and the respondents were directed to pay OTA wages on par with Central Railway Escorting Staff. Aggrieved by the said orders of this Tribunal, the Respondents preferred W.P. 7564 of 2019 before the Hon’ble High Court of Telangana and the same was dismissed on 7.4.2021. Aggrieved by the same, the respondents filed SLP before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the same was dismissed on 11.3.2022. Though there is direction by the Hon’ble Tribunal to consider for payment of OTA to similarly situated Staff who are not party to O.A.631 of 2016, the respondents failed to pay OTA to the similarly situated staff and forced the present applicants to come before this Tribunal for redressal of their grievance.

3. After Notice, the respondents have appeared through their counsel and filed their detailed reply and submitted that the applicants are paid Travelling Allowance and Night Duty Allowance during the period of journey. Since they do not carry out any work/ maintenance of AC coaches at secondary maintenance depots, they are treated as OFF duty for the period spent at destination station. Moreover, the applicants have submitted their representations to the General Manager, South Central Railway, on 05.09.2022 for payment of Over Time Allowance (OTA) for the halt time at the other destination stations and requested to consider their cases referring to the order of Hyderabad Bench in OA/631/2016. However, some of the applicants’ representations are in-complete, as they have not given the details i.e. Employee name, Present Designation and Depot/Station Working, Employee Identity /PF Number, Incomplete/ Unclear/ False Signature. Further, Over Time Allowance (OTA) is being paid as per rake link charts and 104 hours fortnightly rosters. While calculation OT hours, 1 hour is added before and after journey of trains running hours.

4. It is further submitted by the respondents that the applicants are seeking OTA for inaction period i.e. the period for which they are not being put for any physical or sustained attention of the rake. Moreover, OTA will be paid only for action period and not for inaction period. As the ACCA and ACCM are not in active duties at out station after one hour of arrival of train at destination station, hence they are not entitled for OTA at out station. The respondents have followed the procedure laid down in the Railway Board Letter dated 27.06.1985 in the matter of computation of duty hours of these categori