A DURAIRAJ Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petitioner is the appellant before this Court. He is a Class III Employee in the workshop branch of the Signals and telecommunication department in the Southern Railway. THEre are 4 branches in the department and they are:- (1) Signals branch; (2) Telecommunication branch; (3) Workshop branch; and (4) Drawing branch. THE seniority of the employee in each branch is reckoned within that branch till they reach a pay scale of Rs. 700-900 and Rs. 840-1,040, and thereafter they are merged as a single entity within a common seniority roster, and they constitute Class III employees, in the Signals and telecommunication department. THE next avenue of promotion for them is Class ii. Promotion to Class II posts are made on the result of a written examination followed by a viva voce test of candidates who qualify in the written examination. THE written test consists of three papers. Part I of Paper I and Part I of paper II are common and compulsory to all the four branches viz. , Signals, telecommunication, Workshop and Drawing. Contending that the compulsory questions under Part I in both Papers I and II are all signal-oriented and the workshop candidates without previous training in Signals and Telecommunication department, are unable to answer these compulsory questions which have a practical bias, the appellant filed a writ petition to issue a writ of certiorari or other appropriate relief to quash the order of the third respondent issued in No. P (G) 532|ix|vol. V, dated 21st November, 1980, in so far as the petitioner is concerned, and to initiate fresh selection of candidates from the Signals and Telecommunication department for promotion to class II posts.

(2.) THE respondents filed a counter stating that the written examination forming part of the selection is held strictly in conformity with the rules on the subject and the employees from the four streams have no difficulty in answering them, and there is no discrimination or irregularity of treatment, as alleged by the writ petitioner.

(3.) THOUGH there are four branches in Signals and telecommunication department of the Southern Railway, when the incumbents reach a particular pay scale, they are merged as one single entity with a common seniority roster before they could appear for the promotion test for Class II. As a cadre has been formed in Class III drawn out from the four branches in the signals and Telecommunication department, different tests cannot be prescribed for determining the respective promotional opportunities. THOUGH drawn from four different branches they are put in the same cadre of Class III. and the test prescribed for the promotion to Class II can be only one, common to all the four branches. Even after promotion to Class II, they are interchangeable to any of the four branches till they are promoted as Divisional Engineers or equivalent grade in workshop as Works Manager or Production Engineer.