VIKRAM SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Shri Vikram Singh was an employee of the Indian Railway Conference Association ("irca"). He was dismissed from service. Challenging the dismissal, he made a petition to the central Administrative tribunal. The tribunal rejected the petition on the ground of maintainability. It has held that IRCA is not a department of the Railway and is an association governed by a separate set of rules and, therefore, the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition.

(2.) The decision of the tribunal has been called into question in these appeals.

(3.) The facts are not in dispute. IRCA is not an organisation independent of the Railway Administration. Indeed it is a part of the Railway Administration. That in effect is the report of the Public Accounts Committee, 1960-61 of the Second Lok Sabha. The report clearly states: "although the designation 'indian Railway Conference Association' implies as though it was a body independent of the government, it is not so, because for all practical purposes it functions under the Railwayboard. It is only to retain its identity and independent character which has got a great value in practical working that the designation and man- ner of its functioning has been retained. "