Under Rule 306 of the Railway Establishment Code, candidates selected in an earlier recruitment notice are senior to those selected in subsequent notices, regardless of their actual dates of training or posting, unless delayed by the candidate's own actions.

For the applicant : Mr. N R Routray, counsel

For the respondents: Mr. A C Deo, counsel

O R D E R

Mr. Sudhi Ranjan Mishra, J.M.

The applicant challenging the decision of the respondents not to antedate the date of appointment at par with recruits of subsequent notification has filed this OA praying for following reliefs:

(a) To quash the order of rejection dtd. 06.09.2019 under Ann-A/11.

(b) And to direct the respondents to antedate the date of appointment to 09.09.2007 i.e. the day before the date of joining of respondent no. 6;

(c) And to direct the respondents to grant all consequential and financial benefits;

(d) And pass any other order as this Hon’ble Tribunal deems fit and proper in the interest of justice.

The facts of the case as inter alia averred by the applicant in the OA is in pursuance to Employment Notice No. 1/20025 the applicant had applied for the post, appeared in the written test and qualified and his name was found in the replacement papers. It is submitted that he was called to appear in the medical test and submit his attestation form vide letter dated 08.04.2007. It is submitted that after submission of attestation form, instead of sending him in-service training the Divisional Authorities of Mysore Division sought for police verification and antecedents which were proved by the Additional District Magistrate, Cuttack vide letter dated 15.03.2008 and received on 15.04.2008. It is submitted that even though the antecedent were received on 15.04.2008, he was sent for in-service training on 20.04.2009 and that became his date of entry into Railway Service. It is submitted that South Western Railway had issued employment notice No. 2/2006 and the candidates were empanelled vide merit order dated 31.06.2007 and two candidates namely Pankaj Kumar Sahoo, Prashant Kumar Nayak were sent for in-service training and their character and antecedent were done later on. It is submitted that Pankaj Kumar Sahoo was called for document verification and medical on 03.09.2007 to 05.09.2007 and finally on 07.09.2007 he was sent for training. It is submitted that applicant had appeared for medical test and submitted attestation form on 16.07.2007 much before than Pankaj Kumar Sahoo but he became a Railway Employee w.e.f. 10.09.2007 whereas the applicant became a Railway Employee w.e.f. 20.04.2009. It is submitted that since name of Pankaj Kumar Sahoo appeared above him in the seniority list, he had filed several representations dated 06.02.2019 and 15.07.2019. Since the same were not considered he approached CAT, Bangalore Bench filing OA No. 1375/2019. It is submitted that during pendency of the OA before CAT, Bangalore Bench, the applicants own request transfer was allowed and he joined Khurda Division on 18.01.2021. It is submitted that during the pandemic covid, the respondents in OA No. 1375/2019 had filed their reply enclosing letter dated 06.09.2019 issued by Sr. DPO/Mys which is a communication between Sr. DPO/Mys and PCPO/SWR/UBL for disposal of his representation. It is submitted that even though there is mention of copy being marked to him but he had not received any such letter during his continuance at SWR. It is submitted that on the basis of such reply, CAT, Bangalore Bench dismissed the OA vide order dated 06.07.2022 on the ground that his representation was already decided vide order dated 06.09.2019 and that applicant had concealed the aforesaid material. It is submitted that applicant filed a representation dated 31.01.2024 before Respondent No. 1 with a prayer to antedate his date of appointment. Hence the OA.

The respondent no. 1 to 3 filed counter focussing on t he very maintainability of this OA on the ground of limitation so also doctrine of res judicata, inter alia stating that the OA is barred by limitation since the applicant was appointed on 20.04.2009 and