The seniority of Railway employees transferred mutually is determined by their date of appointment, not the date of joining the post, as mandated by IREM guidelines.

ORDER

Per: Hon’ble Shri Jayesh V Bhairavia, Member (J)

Being aggrieved by revising his seniority position below private respondent no.5 by the impugned orders, the applicant has filed the present OA under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act , 1985 seeking the following reliefs:-

“A. Call upon the respondents herein to place before this Hon’ble Tribunal for its perusal the entire original Hon’ble file / noting file / documents giving rise to the issuance of the impugned documents at Annexure-A to Annexure-A/5 hereto by the official respondents herein;

B. Upon the close scrutiny and perusal of the aforesaid original file/noting file /documents, your lordships may be graciously further pleased to :-

B-1 hold & declare that the seniority position at serial no.3 in the seniority list for the cadre of Assistant Loco Pilot which the official respondents herein have assigned to the applicant herein while circulating the seniority list for the cadre of Assistant Loco Pilot on 14.05.2015 at Annexure-A/20 hereto lawful, legal and valid and the same cannot be altered to the disadvantage of the applicant herein on any pretext and that the said seniority position assigned on 14.05.2015 deserves to be restored forthwith with all consequential benefits flowing therefrom;

B-2 quash and set aside () impugned Communication bearing No.EM/1030/26 Vo.JV dated 11 0g 2015 at Annexure-A/l hereto, impugned Communication bearing No. EI/1026/4 Vol.III dated 17.06.201 at Annexure-A/2 hereto, (ii) impugned office Order No.EM/160/2015 dated 21.09.2015 at Annexure-A/3 hereto in so far as it seeks to place the private respondent no.5 herein above the applicant herein even though he junior to the applicant herein in the cadre of Assistant Loco Pilot, (iv) impugned Communication bearing No.EM/1030/26- Val 4 dated 10.12.2015 at Annexure-A/4 hereto and (v) impugned Office Order bearing No.EM/839/5/3 1 Vol.Vil 7 No.EM/O6/2017 dated O6.01.2017 at Annexure-A/S hereto in so far as it seeks to grant promotion to the private respondent no.5 herein to the exclusion of the applicant herein;

B-3 issue appropriate directions in the nature of writ of certiorari directing the official respondents herein to forthwith restore the applicant’s applicant herein on 14.05.2015 in the seniority at serial no.3 assigned to the applicant herein document at Annexure-A/20 hereto. With all the consequential benefits, including (i) the assignment of appropriate seniority position in the cadre of Senior Assistant Loco Pilot by placing the applicant herein above the private respondent no.5 herein and (ii) grant of promotion to the applicant herein to the post of Loco Pilot (Shunter) w.e.f. 06.1.2017 on which the private respondent no.5 herein was granted the said promotion under the impugned document at Annexure-A/5 hereto, together with grant of appropriate seniority to the applicant herein in the cadre of Loco Pilot (Shunter) by placing him over the private respondent no.5 herein;

C. Grant such other and further relief/s as may be deemed fit and proper in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case.”

2. The brief relevant facts of the case are as under:-

2.1 The applicant, who upon his selection to the post of Assistant Loco Pilot (hereinafter referred to as ‘ALP’) and after undergoing various pre-service training, joined at Ahmedabad Railway Division, i.e., under the respondent no.4, on 24.05.2012, and his counterpart, namely, Shri Satyaprakash L. Upadhyay, who was also selected to the post of ALP and after undergoing various pre-service training, joined at Bhavnagar Railway Division, i.e., under the respondent No.3 on 04.05.