MAHABIR Vs. D K MITTAL DY CHIEF MACHANICAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This wirt application has been filed for quashing an order passed by the respondent--Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, compulsorily retiring the petitioner from the service of the North Eastern Railway with effect from 11.11.1976. According to the petitioner, the said order is illegal, ultra vires and without jurisdiction. A copy of that order is Annexure-1 to the writ application.

(2.) The order retiring the petitioner compulsorily from the service of the Railway is purported to have been passed in exercise of the power conferred on the authority concerned by Clause (h) of Rule 2046 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code (hereinafter referred to as the Code). Rule 2046, which is the same as Fundamental Rule 56, vests power in authorities concerned, to retire officers of different categories, on certain conditions being fulfilled. We are concerned only with Clause (h) of the same, which is as follows:

(3.) The main point, which has been urged on behalf of the petitioner by the learned counsel, is that the petitioner being a workman within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), his services cannot be terminated unless the provisons of Section 25F of the Act is also followed, as he is governed by the provisions of the Code as well as the provisions of the Act. Section 25F of the Act is as follows: