UNION OF INDIA Vs. S. VEERAMANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The post of Permanent Way Inspector (P.W.1), Grade-III in the railways has three Grades viz., Grade-III, Grade-II and Grade-I. A person who is appointed as P.W. 1 is eligible to the post of Grade-II on completion of a particular length of service and on fulfilling certain conditions. So for as Grade-I is concerned, the appointment is under two separate categories. 20% of the vacancies are filled through direct recruitment, whereas 80% of the vacancies are filled by promotion from Grade-II P.W. 1. Within the 20% of posts earmarked for direct recruitment, 10% i.e., half of them are earmarked for graduate P.W. 1, Grade-II subject to their holding the prescribed educational qualification and performance in the written test. The respondent was appointed as P.W. 1 Grade-III on 08.08.1979 and he was promoted to Grade-II on 17.02.1986. Since he holds the graduate degree in Engineering, he opted to compete for the 10% of vacancies of Grade-I, through direct recruitment. Notification for this purpose was issued on 03.03.1992 and a written test was conducted on 03.07.1992. Results were declared on 01.10.1992 and in the panel of four candidates, published on 12.11.1992, he was included.

(2.) At a time when the order of appointment on the basis of panel was about to be issued, one of the candidates came to be appointed as an Assistant Engineer and two others were promoted to Grade-I under the restructured establishment. The respondent alone remained in the panel.

(3.) The candidates selected under direct recruitment are required to undergo training for a period of one year. However, since the respondent was also working as P.W. 1 Grade-II, he submitted a representation with a request to exempt him from training. There was delay in consideration of the representation and ultimately the period of training for him was reduced to 3 months. Even that condensed training was imparted only in the year 1994, and he completed the same on 20.02.1994. Orders of posting to Grade-I were issued to him on 01.06.1994.