- (1.) HEARD Shri Saral Srivastava appearing for the Union of India and others-the petitioners. Shri Ram Avatar Varma and Shri Kirtikar Pande have appeared for Shri Ram Bahor Yadav-respondent no.
(2.) THE petitioner was appointed as a 'booking Clerk' on 27. 7. 1986 and was posted at Izzat Nagar Division in North Eastern Railway. He was transferred to Varanasi in the year 1990 and was thereafter posted as 'head Booking Clerk' in the year 2004. He was charge sheeted on 27. 7. 2006 with the allegations of his involvement along with Shri Rajendra Prasad and Shri Satyabrat Tiwari in the sale of forged tickets from Azamgarh to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus. THE facts were confirmed in an enquiry at Azamgarh Station from 23. 12. 2005. It was alleged that the tickets were provided by the petitioner and that he used to collect the money from its sales. THE conduct of the petitioner was found to make his integrity doubtful and was also found to be a misconduct under Rule 3. (1) and sub rules (i), (ii) and (iii) of the Railways Service (Conduct) Rules 1966. Shri P. C. Gaur, a retired Deputy Finance Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer, was appointed as enquiry officer. It is contended that the petitioner demanded the copy of relevant documents, which were not supplied to him. The petitioner thereafter did not appear in the departmental enquiry. The enquiry officer submitted an ex-parte report on 15. 3. 2007 on which the disciplinary authority issued a show cause notice to the petitioner on 21/30. 3. 2007, asking him to submit his reply within 15 days. The petitioner submitted his reply on 12. 4. 2007, alleging that a retired railway servant could not have been appointed as enquiry officer against him under Railway Servants (Discipline & Appeal) Rules 1968, and that his dismissal based on his report, was bad in the eye of law. By an order dated 16. 4. 2007, the disciplinary authority considered the petitioner's explanation and agreeing with the report of the enquiry officer decided to dismiss the petitioner from service under Rule 6 (ix) of the Railway Servants (Punishment & Appeal) Rules 1968. In the speaking order enclosed with the order awarding punishment, it was stated that in the vigilance enquiry, it was found that the petitioner used to keep and sell forged tickets and that the tickets of all those persons, who could not board the train due to rush, were not returned and were torn off. The prosecution evidence established that the petitioner-Ram Bahor Yadav used to supply the counterfeit tickets causing loss to the railways.
(3.) THE petitioner, instead of filing an appeal under Rule 18 (11) of the Railways Servants (Discipline & Appeal) Rules 1968 straightaway challenged the order in Original Application No. 479 of 2007 in the Central Administrative Tribunal. After exchange of pleadings, the Tribunal observed that the first main ground taken by the counsel for the applicant was the competence of a retired railway officer to be appointed as enquiry officer. Secondly, it was contended that the respondent no. 4 namely, Dr. V. K. Singh, Divisional Commercial Manager, North Eastern Railway, Varanasi was not competent to dismiss him as his promotion in the grade of Rs. 5000-8000 was made by the D. R. M. (P ). THE disciplinary enquiry was also assailed on the ground that no reasonable opportunity of hearing was given to the applicant. The Tribunal, by its order dated 13. 5. 2007, directed that the order of dismissal dated 16. 4. 2007 shall not be given effect to and that the applicant shall be treated to be on leave. The interim order continued during the pendency of the application in the Tribunal.;