PASHUPATI SARDAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these two petitions have challenged the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal Calcutta Bench dated 23.03.2012. W.P.C.T. No. 345 of 2012 arises from the judgement in Original Application No. 484 of 2007 whereas W.P.C.T. No. 346 has been filed by the applicants in Original Application No. 485 of 2007.

(2.) A neat question of law arises in these two petitions, namely, whether the Administrative Tribunal has jurisdiction to decide whether the applicants were entitled to overtime allowance which is payable to them under the Factories Act.

(3.) It appears that several orders have been passed in different applications filed before various benches of the Administrative Tribunal from the year 1998 to 2005 directing the respondents to pay overtime allowance to their employees who were on duty for more than eight hours a day for five days in a week. The Railway Board issued a circular on 9th August 2005 indicating that if a railway servant renders extra hours of duty beyond the "rostered hours" he was entitled to be paid overtime for working those extra hours. The petitioners claimed overtime allowance on the basis of the Railway Board's circular by filing applications before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Calcutta Bench.