DHARMENDRA KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition has been preferred by two petitioners to challenge order of Central Administrative Tribunal, Patna Bench, Patna dated 19.12.2008 whereby O.A. No. 381/2008 preferred by the petitioners has been dismissed summarily after noticing the dismissal of three earlier O.As out of which O.A. No. 540/1994 was filed by the present petitioners and others raising similar grievance.

(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioners has drawn our attention to the earlier order of the Tribunal dated 12.11.1997 passed in O.A. No. 540 of 1994(Annexure-2) to highlight that by the said order the Tribunal had not dismissed the claim of the petitioners and some others but had remanded the matter to the competent authority who was required to dispose of the representation in the light of observations made by the Tribunal in that order. It was further highlighted that the Tribunal had indicated two issues of facts and had required the concerned authorities to decide those issues relating to correctness of the claim of the petitioners regarding the number of days they had worked as casual Safaiwalas and whether the persons who were included in the panel of 1987 had worked for lesser days than the petitioners or not.

(3.) ON the other hand, learned counsel for the Railways has taken the stand that petitioners challenge to the findings of the authorities in the reasoned order contained in Annexure-4 failed long back in 1999 when their O.A. No.342/1999 was dismissed and in any case after dismissal of contempt application on 07.08.2001 vide Annexure-7. According to learned counsel for the Railways, since the petitioners accepted those orders for long number of years and those orders have attained finality, learned Tribunal was correct in dismissing the present O.A. summarily as it was barred by res judicata.