UNION OF INDIA Vs. T DANAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Union of India (represented by the Chairman, Railway Board), the General Manager, South Western Railway and the Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer (together referred to as 'South Western Railway') have filed these writ petitions impugning the order dated 7.9.2017 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Bangalore Bench (for short, 'the Learned Tribunal') in OA Nos.170/00049-00080/2016. The Learned Tribunal by the impugned order dated 7.9.2017 has allowed the applications filed by the respondents holding that the South Western Railway shall extend to the respondents all the benefits in pari-materia with the benefits extended to the others (Sic) and that such benefits shall be extended within a period of three months.

(2.) A brief statement of the facts that would be necessary for deciding the controversy in these writ petitions is as follows:

(3.) Further, certain employees with the South Western Railway, who were also appointed as Accounts Clerks in the year 1987 (and thus were juniors to the respondents), were promoted as Junior Accounts Assistants (JAAs) in the year 1995 after they had also successfully cleared aforementioned Appendix-IIA and IIIA (IREM) examinations. In the year 1999, these employees, who were juniors to the respondents, were directly promoted as Senior Section Officers (Sr.SOs). Interestingly, these employees, who were juniors to the respondents, were directly promoted as Senior Section Officers (Sr.SOs), without intermediary promotion as Accounts Assistants (AAs). This is a material difference insofar as the present controversy is concerned.