B SRINIVASACHAR Vs. RAILWAY BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short question that anses in this writ petition is as to whether the Railway Board and the General Manager (Personnel) Southern Railway, Madras have competence to issue the impugned orders in this writ petition and it arises in this way.

(2.) The petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Ward Keeper by the second respondent and later confirmed in the said post. In the Stores Department there were two units or wings i.e., Store Keeping Unit and the Ministerial Unit. The petitioner belonged to the Store Keeping Unit. The promotions in each of the units was on a unit wise basis. A decision was taken by the Railway Board to merge both the units and for preparation of a common seniority list. An extract of the relevant portion of the said decision contained in the copy of the letter of the Railway Board dated 19-11-1965 which is marked as Exhibit E, is as given below.

(3.) It is the validity of these orders that is challenged in this writ petition on the ground that the Railway Board and the General Manager, Southern Railway have no competence to pass the impugned orders under the rules governing the matter. Therefore, the sole question for consideration is whether the orders have been passed by the authorities competent to deal with the matter The submission made by the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner was that the Railway Board and the General Manager are both delegated with specific power and the power to merge the cadre has not been given to them and it is beyond their powers to issue the impugned orders. It was also submitted that the authorities have no power to abolish the cadre post