Central Administrative Tribunal

Principal Bench

OA No.1862/2018

New Delhi, this the 16^th day of May, 2018

Hon’ble Mr. V. Ajay Kumar, Member (J)

Hon’ble Ms. Nita Chowdhury, Member

M.K. Srivastava (Manoj Kumar Srivastava),

Aged about 46 years,

S/o Shri R.N. Srivastava,

R/o 9/1057, Indira Nagar,

Lucknow.

...Applicant

(By Advocate : Shri Yogesh Sharma)

Versus

1. Union of India through,

The General Manager, Northern Railway,

Baroda house, New Delhi.

2. General Manager (P),

Northern Railway,

Baroda House, New Delhi.

3. Shri Surinder Kumar,

SSE/Sig. Under the office of Senior Divisional Signal

And Telecom Engineer, Ambala.

4. Shri Sukhpal Singh,

SSE/Sig.I under the office of Senior Divisional Signal and

Telecom Engineer, Ambala

and presently posted at Saharanpur.

...Respondents

(By Advocate : Shri V.S.R. Krishna with Shri Satpal Singh)

ORDER (ORAL)

Mr. V. Ajay Kumar, Member (J) :

Heard both sides.

2. With the consent of the parties, the main OA itself is taken up

for hearing.

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OA No.1862/2018

3. The applicant, who is presently working as Section Engineer

and belongs to Unreserved Category, filed the OA seeking the

following reliefs :-

“1.

To quash the impugned notification/ order dated

24.05.2016

and

13.01.2016

contained

as

Annexure No.1 and 2 to the extent, they provide

reservation and promote the reserved category

candidates;

2. To carry out necessary exercise in terms of

judgment passed by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court in

the matter of Ajit Singh-II, S. Paneer Selvam and

also in the light of M. Nagraj before making any

promotion in the matter.

3. To consider the applicant for promotion to the

post of ASTE/NR with all consequential benefits

after releasing the reserved posts as indicated in

the impugned orders.

4. Any other relief, which this Hon‟ble Tribunal may

deem fit, just and proper under the circumstances

of the case, may also be passed.

5. Cost of the present case.”

4.

This Tribunal by its order dated 07.06.2016 after hearing both

sides passed the following order :-

“In view of the submissions made by learned

counsel for the applicant, I am inclined to pass an

interim order restraining the respondents from making

any promotion based on the principle of reservation as

per notification contained in Annexure nos.1&2 till the

disposal of this O.A.

Respondents may file CA within four weeks. RA, if

any, may be filed within 2 weeks thereafter. Issue notice

to the respondent nos.3 and 4, who may also file

Counter Reply within the aforesaid period.

List this case on 17.8.2016.”

5. It is the case of the applicant that the respondents vide

impugned Annexure-A/1 Notification dated 13.01.2016, out of the

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OA No.1862/2018

total notified vacancies, sought to fill up three vacancies by

following the principle of rule of reservation in promotions for the

post of ASTE (Group „B‟) and the applicant stood at Sl. No.6 under

the general seniority and in view of the illegal action of the

respondents in filling up of three vacancies by following the rule of

reservation against the law declared by the Hon‟ble Apex Court in

M. Nagaraj & Ors. Vs. Union of India & Others (2006) SCC 212,

he will be deprived of promotion against the 6 vacancies for which

he is entitled by virtue of his seniority.

6. On the other hand, learned counsel for respondent Railways

submits that the issue of following the rule of reservation in

promotions and also the decision of the Hon‟ble Apex Court in M.

Nagaraj (supra) was considered by the Hon‟ble Punjab and

Haryana High Court in WP(C) No.15782/2015 in its decision dated

18.01.2017 in Ram Kishan Singh & Others Vs. Union of India

& Others and batch and keeping in view the administrative

exigencies, permitted the respondents to make a temporary

arrangement and in view of the same and following the said

decision, the respondent Railways formulated certain guidelines

vide letter dated 08.02.2017, a copy o