CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL CHENNAI BENCH OA/310/00054/2021 Dated this, the 21^st day of November Two Thousand Twenty Five CORAM : HON’BLE MS. VEENA KOTHAVALE, Member (J)

HON’BLE MR. SISIR KUMAR RATHO, Member (A)

1. Prabhas Kumar, 2. Raju Kumar, 3. Deepak Kumar Jha, 4. Kumar Rahul, 5. Subodh Kumar, 6. Rajesh Kumar, 7. Sanjeet Kumar. …..Applicants By Advocate M/s. R. Pandian Vs.

1.Union of India rep by, The General Manager, Southern Railway, Park Town, Chennai 600003.

2.The Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, Southern Railway, Chennai Division, NGO Annexe, Park Town, Chennai 600003.

3.The Chairman, Railway Recruitment Board, No. 5, Dr. P. V. Cherian Crescent Road, Egmore, Chennai 600008.

4.The Principal, Multi Disciplinary Training Institute, Southern Railway, Tiruchchirappalli 620001. ….Respondents By Advocate Ms. Meera Gnanasekar

ORDER

(Pronounced by Hon'ble Mr. Sisir Kumar Ratho, Member(A))

This OA has been filed by the applicants seeking the following reliefs:-

“ to call for all the records leading to the refusal to revise the provisional seniority of the cadre of Station Masters in PB-2 with GP 4200 (Pay Matrix Level-6 - in VII-CPC) and place the Applicants in their respective places following Para 303 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual (IREM); to quash and set aside letter dated 19.10.2020 bearing No.M/P.353/CC/OA1443/2019 passed by the Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, Southern Railway, Chennai Division (2nd Respondent); consequently, i. to direct the 2nd Respondent to place the Applicants, who belong to Batch No.1415022, for which training was commenced on 02.06.2014 and ended on 25.09.2014 (2nd Batch in CEN. No.03/2012 of RRB Panel), above all other persons belonging to the later batches, in the Provisional Seniority List published by him vide No.M/P 612/OPTG/Shg MST dated 06.03.2019 duly following Para.303 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual (IREM);

ii. to direct the 2nd Respondent to re-cast the Provisional Seniority List of the cadre of Station Masters in Pay Matrix Level-6 (7th CPC) published by him vide No.M/P 612/OPTG/Shg MST dated 06.03.2019 and to publish a final Seniority List; and iii. to pass such further or other order/orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper and thus to render justice.”

2. The facts of the case as submitted by the applicants, are as follows, in brief:-

The applicants joined the service of the respondents as Assistant Station Master through RRB, vide its advertisement CEN No. 3/2012. The applicants were subjected to initial training in different batches due to administrative reasons. As per Para 303 of IREM seniority of the recruits subjected to initial training in different batches due to administrative reasons are to be fixed batch-wise. But the 2^nd respondent published a provisional seniority list during 2016 without following the above rule resulting in the candidates joined the service of the respondents in much later date being placed above the applicants. The applicants submitted representations requesting to re-cast the seniority following Para 303 of IREM. In the meanwhile, during implementation of the 7^th CPC recommendations, the cadre of ASMs were upgraded from PB-1 with GP 2800 to PB-2 with GP 4200 and placed in Pay Matrix Level-6. Consequently, another provisional seniority list was published by the 2^nd respondent without rectifying the anomalies. Hence, the applicants preferred an OA No. 1443/2019 and this Tribunal directed the Respondents to dispose of their representations and subsequently, the 2^nd respondent passed the impugned order dt. 19.10.2020 rejecting the applicants’ request to rectify the anomalies in their seniority.

Aggrieved, the applicants have filed this OA seeking the aforesaid relief.

3.1. The respondents have filed their reply opposing the relief prayed by the applicants. It is contended that the recruitment was conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board, Chennai to fill up the vacancies in the category of the Assistant Station Master