PROKASH CHANDRA MALLICK,J. - (1.) This is an application under Sec. 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, praying for reinstatement of the applicant in service with full back wages for the alleged illegal termination of service from 5.5.88.
(2.) The applicant was a Christian by birth. He adopted Hinduism on 16.2.1981, and being a Muchi, claimed to belong to the scheduled caste. He obtained a conversion certificate from Acharya Durga Pande on 16.2.1981 (Annexure -I) and a scheduled caste certificate from the S.D.O., Jamtara, on 10.11.1981 (Annexure -II). He applied for a Class IV job in the railways as a scheduled caste candidate and produced the Annexure I and II at the time of his appointment. He was appointed as a schedule caste candidate on 6.12.84 and continued to work without interruption. On 12.3.85, a charge -sheet was issued to him for falsely declaring himself as a member of the scheduled caste community at the time of appointment. He replied to the charge -sheet (vide Annexures -D & E) denying the charge and asserting that his father had also embraced Hinduism. He had also enclosed the father's scheduled caste certificate.
(3.) According to the applicant, he handed over his copy of the charge -sheet to the respondents by mistake, but he remembered that in the charge -sheet there was no name of any witness nor any mention of any document to be relied upon, thereby rendering the charge -sheet illegal, void and ultra vires of the Railway Servants (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1968. He had also alleged that on completion of the inquiry, he was not furnished with copy of the Inquiry Report for preparing his defence note and that he was removed from service on 5.5.88 (Annexure -G) without indicating that had the right to appeal, the time limit for such appeal and the authority whom the appeal was to be made. However, he filed the appeal to the Divisional Engineer (vide Annexure -K) dated, 11.6.88, but it was not disposed of within the specified period of 30 days. Thereafter, he filed the present application on 12.9.88.;