P K CHOWDHURY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE services of a number of railway servants were terminated for participation in the Railway Strike of May 1974. The petitioners are three of them. The petitioner P. K. Chowdhury was employed as Turner and the other two petitioners, namely, Saibal Das Gupta and D. R. Das, were employed as Chargemen Grade B at Raipur in the Mechanical Section of Wagon Raipur shop of South Eastern Railway. The petitioners were removed from service by three orders passed on 14th May 1974 by the Works Manager on the ground that they were "guilty of unauthorised absence and absconding from duty. " the petitioners by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution challenge the orders removing them from service.

(2.) THE relevant rules applicable to the petitioners are the Railway servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968. Rule 6 of these Rules specifies the penalties which may, for good and sufficient reasons, be imposed on a railway servant. Removal from Service is a major penalty specified in this rule. Rules 9 to 13 contain an elaborate procedure for holding enquiry and imposing any major penalty. Rule 14 covers those cases where the procedure prescribed by rules 9 to 13 may be dispensed with. This rule, which has an important bearing in this case, reads as follows :

(3.) THE petitioners were removed from service without any inquiry by recourse to Rule 14 (ii ). The orders of removal that were served on the petitioners are styled as "removal notice. " These orders are identical and read as follows: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_690_MPLJ_1976Html2.htm</FRM>