Seniority of RRB-recruited railway staff follows RRB panel batch-wise per IREM Para 303(a), not solely training marks.

ORDER

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

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

“to call for the records on the file of the 2nd Respondents pertaining to proceedings No.P(SFC)721/Staff Grievances/PB/HQ dated 18.05.2022 and No. P(SFC)721/Staff Grievances/PB/HQ dated 24.06.2022 and quash the same and to direct the 3rd Respondent to revise the combined seniority list of Assistant Loco Pilots in Chennai Division as Proceedings No. issued by the 3rd Respondent in M/P1(E)612/VI/RG/Seniority/ALP/SR.ALP dated 27.01.2022 and include the names of the applicants in the appropriate place in the original seniority list issued by the 3rd Respondent in Proceedings No. M/P1(E)612/VI/RG/Seniority/ALP dated 20.04.2021 in the order of the merit in the selection proceedings and to place them in the said list with reference to the relative merit on the basis of the marks secured in the respective Training and accordingly to place the Applicants in the appropriate place in the combined seniority list of Assistant Loco Pilots in Chennai Division as issued by the 3rd Respondent in proceedings No. M/P1(E)612/VI/RG/Seniority/ALP/SR.ALP dated 27.01.2022 and to consequently include their names in the respective panels for promotion to the post of Senior Assistant Loco Pilots in Chennai Division and to promote them as such with effect from the date of promotion of their immediate juniors and to grant them all consequential service and monetary benefits within a limited time frame as deemed fit by this Hon'ble Tribunal and pass such further or other order as deemed fit by this Hon'ble Tribunal and thus render justice.”

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

2.1. Pursuant to the recruitment notification CEN No. 01/2018 issued by Railway Recruitment Board, published on 03.02.2018, the applicants herein applied for participation in the selection for the post of Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) and Technician. There were three stages in the said selection proceedings viz. (i) Computer Based Test-1 (ii) Computer BasedTest-2 and (iii) Computer Based Aptitude Test (Psychometric Test). Once a candidate is successful in the aforesaid three tests, they will be subjected to Document Verification followed by Medical Examination and once they are proved to be medically fit enough they will be empanelled to the post of ALP against notified vacancies. The empanelled candidates will be allotted to each division depending upon its requirement.

2.2. It is submitted that in the aforesaid selection proceedings conducted in pursuance of the notification published on 03.02.2018 all the applicants had succeeded in the three stages of tests and also were found to be fit in the Medical Examination. The empanelment ought to have been done in the order of merit, based on their performance in the tests.

2.3. It is submitted that the 1^st respondent published a list of candidates for the post of ALP named Provisional Part Panel-1 wherein it was clearly mentioned in the 1^st respondent website while publishing the Provisional Part Panel-1 that the list is purely provisional and the list of candidates was arranged in ascending order on the basis of roll number and not based on merit. On 14.10.2019, a second set list of candidates were published by 1^st respondent named Provisional Part Panel-2 and the same was also arranged in an ascending order only on the basis of roll number and not based on merit. All the 25 applicants were included in the Provisional Part Panel-2, irrespective of their higher merit ranking. The Provisional Part Panel-2 candidates were allotted to various divisions by the 2^nd respondent and by then the candidates included in Provisional Part Panel-1 were alrea