S.A.SHAH - (1.)The only question raised in this petition by the petitioner is whether the respondent-Railway can recover the salary and wages paid to the petitioner employed on a promotional post on which he has actually worked for number of years before he was reverted to the lower cadre on account of adjustment of his seniority vis-a-vis other employees.
(2.)At the outset I may say that it is a very sorry state of affairs for a mighty administration like the Railway to come out with the order at Annexure-C dated 7-9-1977 directing recovery of the excess salary claimed for the period from 19-4-1961 to 31= 1976 amounting to Rs. 5 777 ps. from the petitioner.
(3.)The petitioner was recruited in the respondent-Railway as Tracer in the year 1955 and was promoted to the post of Junior Draftsman on 19-4-1961. The petitioner was thereafter further promoted to the post of Junior Estimator from 23-12-1962 and thereafter to the post of Senior Estimator on 16-3-1966 According to the petitioner he was promoted strictly in accordance with the orders of promotion passed by the competent authority. It appears that some of the employees who were treated as juniors to the petitioner had filed civil suit in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division Bhavnagar and the said suit was decreed in favour of the plaintiffs. In consequence thereof the Divisional Office of the respondent-Railway passed an order on 30/01/1976 readjusting the seniority of the petitioner vis-a-vis those employees who succeeded in the suit and the petitioner was placed below them. It appears that thereafter an order dated 21-12-1976 was passed by the Divisional Office at Bhavnagar withdrawing the benefits of proforma fixation granted to the petitioner in the year 1962; and by the impugned order dated 7/09/1977 an amount of Rs. 5 777.4 ps. was ordered to be recovered from the petitioner in the manner laid down therein. Being aggrieved by the said recovery order the petitioner has filed this petition and challenged the order.