Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2026 Supreme(Online)(CAT) 375

CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
Akhil Kumar Srivastava, JM, Mallika Arya, AM
SURESH KUMAR, DHANANJAY GARHEWAL, CHANNULAL, AJAY DAS, G. SHYAM KUMAR, VINOD KUMAR, MANISH KUMAR PATEL, GOUTAM GUPTA, UMESH KUMAR PATEL, AASHISH KUMAR VERMA, KISHAN KUMAR, MANENDRA KUMAR VERMA, ABHISHEK KUMAR YADAV, MAN MOHAN DAS, TRIDEV KUMAR, MANISH KUMAR, JAI PRAKASH, AMIT RAJ, SHAILENDRA CHANDRA, SHIVA KUMAR PATEL, AKHIL MAHOBIYA, KHEER KUMAR, AJAY SENAPATI, DINESH KUMAR SAHU, NIKHIL MAHOBIA, KAVITA SAHU, TRILOCHAN, JAIHIND YADAV, AVINASH, SANJU KUMAR NISHAD, AMIT NAMDEV, ALOK KUMAR SAHU, KALYANEE KASHYAP, LAXMI KANT PATEL, BHANU PRATAP SINGH, DINESH KUMAR PATEL, KHILESH, BALKRISHNA PATEL, AKHILESH KUMAR, MITHLESH KUMAR, RAKESH KUMAR, SANDEEP KUMAR, CHETAN KUMAR PATHODE, ANKUSH SRIVAS, NILESH KUMAR SAHU, SNEHAL ITANKAR, HARSH CH., RANJIT RANA, MORAJ, SHAILENDRA KUMAR SAHU, DURGESH KUMAR, SANTOSH, NITESH ARUN TAGADE, VIJYENDRA KUMAR, SURYAKANT, NEELESH RAJAK, GOURAV KUMAR DEWANGAN, CHUNAMANI KASHYAP, PRASHANT VISHWAKARMA, YAGYA KUMAR KASHYAP, TRILOK SAHU, NAND KUMAR, RAJESH KUMAR – Appellant
Versus
Union of India through the General Manager, S.E.C. Railway, Bilaspur Zone, Headquarters’ Office, Bilaspur – Respondent
Original Application No.203/186/2023

Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Shri B.P. Rao
For the Respondents: Shri Siddharth Rathod

The tribunal emphasizes adherence to reservation norms ensuring fair opportunity in recruitment processes.

Headnote:In this matter, applicants sought the quashing of amendments related to employment notifications which they argued prejudiced their chances of recruitment. The tribunal found that the reservation policies were not adhered to, resulting in an unfair advantage for certain candidates. Ultimately, the tribunal directed the respondents to correctly implement the horizontal reservation for specific categories and allowed the application.

Table of Content
1. application seeks relief against amendments to employment norms. (Para 1 , 2)
2. respondents provided justifications regarding reservation policies. (Para 3)
3. excess candidate calls violate reservation norms. (Para 5 , 7)
4. tribunal directs adherence to reservation in filling vacancies. (Para 8 , 9)

ORDER

By Mallika Arya, Member (A).

The applicants have filed this Original Application and sought for the following relief:

“8.1 That, this Hon’ble Tribunal be pleased to allow the O.A. and be pleased to quash and set aside the Para 3 of RBE 51/2022 (Annexure A-4), Railway Board Notice for CCAAs dated 11.3.2022 (Annexure A-5), Corrigendum and Amendment -5 dated 22.4.2022 (Annexure A-6), Addendum No.1 to Corrigendum and Amendment No.4 dated 12.8.2022 (Annexure A-6), Corrigendum and Amendment dated 12.8.2022 (A-7) and Addendum No.2 dated 6.12.2022 (Annexure A-8) in the interest of justice.

8.2 That, the Hon’ble Tribunal be pleased to quash and set aside the Respondents Official Letter dated 28.1.2023 (A-9) in respect to the Document Verification and Medical Examination of 228 CCAA candidates against OBC vacancies and 74 CCAA candidates against the SC vacancies of Group-D posts of Level 1 of 7^th CPC of S.E.C.Railway vide CEN RRC- 01/2019 and restrain the Respondents for issuance of Empanelment List/Posting Orders of these 228 +74=302 CCAAs candidates in the interest of justice.

8.3 That, the Hon’ble Tribunal be pleased to pass and Order, directing the Respondents to fill-up 333 vacancies of CCAAs through Horizonal Reservation i.e., 20% of the Vacancies enmarked as Vertical Reservation in the Employment Notice (A-1) in the respective Category wise i.e. for SC/ST/OBC/UR/EWS as per para 23 & 8 of RBE 71/2016 (A-3) in the interest of justice.”

2. The applicants have stated that a Centralized Employment Notice (CEN) No.RRC-1/2019 was issued on 23.2.2019 (Annexure A-1) to fill up th the as many as 103769 posts in Level 1 of 7 CPC in all the 16 Railway Zones with category wise breakup of vacancies i.e, for UR-797, SC-49, ST- 115, OBC-366 and EWS-167 have been mentioned. Vertical Reservations for UR, SC,ST, OBC & EWS and Horizontal Reservations for ExSMs, CCAAS, PwBDs have been earmarked. Out of the Total Vacancies, 20% posts were reserved for Ex Service Man (ExSM) & (CCAAs) and 10% for PwBD) etc. In the Notification, the vacancies enmarked for SEC Railways are UR-797, SC-219, ST-115, OBC-366, EWS-167, i.e. a total 1664 vacancies. Out of total vacancies 20% vacancies were reserved for ExSM- 333 & CCAA -333, while 5% were for PwBD-84.

2.1 The Recruitment Process for all the candidates involved a Computer Based Test(s), Physical Efficiency Test (PET), Document Verification and Medical Examination. The minimum qualifying marks in CBT for various categories were 40% for UR & EWS while 30% for SC, ST & OBC with relaxation of 2% for PwBD. Based on Merit of the Candidates in CBT, candidates were to be called for PET and passing of PET was mandatory.

2.2 The applicants belong to SC and OBC category (other than CCAA, PwBD and Ex Serviceman). As per the Employment Notification for SEC Railways, 219 vacancies were notified for SC category and 366 vacancies were earmarked for OBC category. All these vacancies were to be filled from all classes of candidates including Ex Serviceman, CCAA, PwBD under 20% Horizontal Reservation. The respondents called 76 SC candidates from CCAA category and 228 OBC candidates from CCAA category over and above the quota reserved for CCAA category. This has resulted in denial of applicants’ chances to get recruited. The applicants have submitted that this has been done by way of corrigendum and amendments after issuance of the main notification which is not permissible in the eyes of law.

3. In their reply, the respondents have stated that Centralized Employment Notice RRC – 01/2019 was published on 23.02.2019, wherein Railway wise summary of vacancies have been notified. The relevant Paras of the notification dated

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