IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY EIGHTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 9977 of 1999 Between: M/s South Central Railway Mazdoor Union Affiliated to All India Railway Federation and HMS Recognised and Registered having their Central office at 7-C, Railway Buildings, Secunderabad-71, rep.by its General Secretary Mr.N.Sundaresan, S/o.Nagaraja Chary,age 59 yrs.R/o.Sec'bad ..... PETITIONER AND 1 N.V.Chakrapani S/o.N.S.Krishna Murthy Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 2 T.S.Krishnada Chary S/o.T.Sreeramulu Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 3 The General Manager, South Central Railway Rail Nilayam Secunderabad 4 The Manager Printing & Stationery Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 5 The Asst. Manager Printing & Stationery Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 6 The Chief Personnel Officer South Central Railway Rail Nilayam Secunderabad .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue a writ or order or direction preferably in the nature of writ of certiorari calling for records from the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal and may be pleased to examine the legality propriety and correctness of the order in OA.No.1119/98 Dt.30/11/98 and also the order in RA.85/98 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal Hyderabad and quash the same declaring the orders as illegal, void and unconstitutional and set aside the orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal in OA.No.1119/98 Dt.30/11/98 and also the order in RA.85/98 and pass such other order. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.M.PRATAP SINGH Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.R.S.MURTHY WRIT PETITION NO : 8390 of 1999 Between: T.S.Krishnanda Chary, son of T.Sreeramulu Chargeman-A/Junior Engr Gr-I, Railway Printing Press, Secunderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 N.V.Chakrapani son of N.S.Krishnan Murthy, Junior Engineer Gr.II Railway Printing Press, Secunderabad 2 The General Manager, South Central Railway Rail Nilayam,Secunderabad 3 The Manger, Printing & Stationery, Railway Printing Press, Secunderabad 4 The Asst. Manager, Printing & Stationery, Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 5 The Chief Personal Officer South Central Railway Rail Nilayam, Secunderabad 6 The Registrar Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to to issue a writ, or direction or order more particularly one inthe nature of Writ of Certiorari calling for the records pertaining to the impugned judgment in OA.1119/98 dt. 30/10/1998 the RA No.85/98 dt. 4/01/98 on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal,Hyderabad and declare the same as totally illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and dismiss the OA.No. 1119/98 filed by the first respondent herein with costs and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.K.SUDHAKAR REDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.P.N.A.CHRISTIAN COMMON ORDER: (Per Sri Justice GHULAM MOHAMMED) Since the issue involved in both the Writ Petitions is one and the same, they are disposed of by this common order. Both the Writ Petitions arise out a common order dated 30.11.1998 passed in O.A.No. 1119 of 1998 and R.A.No. 85 of 1998 passed by the Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad. Aggrieved by the promotion granted to T. S. Krishnananda Chary, Junior Engineer, Grade-I, South Central Railway Printing Press, Secunderabad, the 2nd respondent herein, O.A.No. 1119 of 1998 was filed by N.V.Chakrapani - the first respondent-applicant. The Tribunal after careful and elaborate discussion, held that the applicant was fully entitled to be considered for promotion to Chargeman ‘A’/Junior Engineer Grade I both in terms of his seniority and eligibility under the provisions of Rule 107 of the Rules for Recruitment, Training and Promotion of Staff in the Railway Printing Presses and that overlooking of his claim in this regard was in violation of the relevant rules and accordingly set aside the proceedings dated 14.8.1998 and 19.8.1998 in so far as they relate to the suitability/promotion and posting of T.S. Krishnananda Chari. It further directed that the case of the applicant for promotion from Chargeman ‘B’/Junior Engineer Grade II to Chargeman ‘A’/Junior Engineer Grade I be considered afresh and necessary action be taken expeditiously, and not later than two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order, to promote him subject to his being fit for such promotion in all respects other than seniority. It further clarified that the applicant is eventually so promoted, his seniority in Junior Engineer Grade I shall have to be notionally fixed from the date on which T.S. Krishnananda Chary was promoted through the impugned order, and the promotion of the applicant shall be effective from the date he assumes charge of the new post when he would start drawing the pay scale attached to it. Being aggrieved by the same, 5th respondent in O.A.No. 1119 of 1998 filed R.A.No. 85 of 1998 to review the order of the Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the documents produced by the official respondents therein do not lead to any conclusion other than what has been incorporated in the judgment passed in O.A.No. 1119 of 1998 and accordingly, disallowed the R.A. Being aggrieved by the same, Writ Petition No. 8390 of 1999 is preferred by the 5th respondent in O.A NO. 1119 of 1998 and Writ Petition No. 9977 of 1999 is preferred by the General Secretary, South Central Railway Mazdoor Union, Secunderabad. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.No. 8390 of 1999 Sri Sudhakara Reddy vehemently contended that the Tribunal has wrongly decided the issue and the railway department has rightly granted promotion to the Writ Petitioner. He further contended that the Railway Printing Press comprises of two broad groups i.e., General and Ticket Printing Units, which in turn consists of 11 sections and two sub- sections. Two posts of Chargeman-A/Junior Engineer Grade. I arose in August, 1998 and as per the integrated seniority list Sri S. Sanjeeva Rao and T.S. Krishnananda Chary, petitioner in W.P.No. 8390 of 1999 were eligible for consideration subject to suitability to promotion to the post. He further contended that the Tribunal has committed an error in exercising its discretion in declaring the promotion as invalid. He further contended that section wise seniority alone is mandatory for the purpose of affecting promotion inasmuch as the clear vacancy and Rule 107 of the Railway Recruitment, Training and Promotion of Staff in the Railway Printing Presses 1973 published by the Ministry of Railway and Railway Board postulates that the seniority in the section alone is mandatory for affecting the promotion. On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the 1st respondent-applicant contended that when once integrated seniority list is prepared for the Chargemen Grade B, the 1st respondent-applicant is shown at Sl.No. 3 and where as the Writ Petitioners was shown at Sl. No. 4. He has drawn our attention to Rule 107 of the Rules for Recruitment Training and Promotion of Staff in the Railway Printing Press Recruitment Rule, which reads as under: “107. Channel of Promotion- (A) For the purpose of channel of promotion as shown n annexure ‘A’ the following are the different Sections in the Railway Press:- (1) Mechanical Composing; (2) Hand Composing; (3) Proof Reading; (4) Stereo; (5) Machine; (6) Binding; (7) Ticket Printing; (8) Maintenance (a) Mechanical Composing (b) General Printing (9) Office-Technical Section; (10)Stationery, Paper Stores and forms Depot; (11)Office-Non-technical Section. (B) Promotion of staff working in the various Sections of the Press to higher grades shall be strictly confined to the Section itself upto the stage of top supervisor of the Section, except in the following cases:- (1) Chargemen directly recruited through the Railway Service Commission can be transferred between Sections of the Press and the Technical Sections of the Press Office, Whenever necessary. (2) Junior Compositors can be promoted as Casters, Junior Readers and Ludlow Operators. (3) Compositors can be promoted as Mono Key Board Operators.” He also further contended that he was appointed as Chargeman Grade-B/Junior Engineer Grade II, and pursuant to the notification issued and there is no distinction between the ticket printing and general printing and it is only an arrangement that has been made by the railways and as far as the promotion is concerned, the promotion is only by way of seniority and the Tribunal has considered that the Chargeman Grade-B is the top Supervisor Post in the Section and when once the seniority list is prepared and when once the applicant before the Tribunal was senior to the Writ Petitioner and seniority alone is criterion, the question of giving promotion to the Writ Petitioner has rightly been held to be bad by the Tribunal and the O.A was allowed and the Tribunal has not committed any error. We have heard the learned counsel appearing for both sides and perused the record made available. It is no doubt true that the Railway Printing Press comprises of two broad groups i.e General and Ticket Press Units, which in turn consists of 11 sections and two sub-sections. The Tribunal after an elaborate discussion held that the applicant therein was fully entitled to be considered for promotion to Chargeman A/Junior Engineer Grade I both in terms of his seniority as also eligibility under the Provisions of Rule 107 of the Rules for Recruitment, Training and Promotion of Staff in the Railway Printing Press and set aside the proceedings dated 14.8.1998 and 19.8.1998. Being aggrieved by the same, the fifth respondent therein filed R.A.No. 85 of 1998 to review the order of the Tribunal and the Tribunal dismissed the same holding that documents produced by the respondents therein do not lead to any conclusion other than what has been incorporated in the order passed in O.A.No. 1119 of 1998. In view of the above, and having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, we do not find any error of jurisdiction warranting our interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and accordingly, both the Writ Petitions are dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. _____________________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J ______________________________ B. SESHASAYANA REDDY, J Dt. 28.11.2008 KA ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1 The General Manager, South Central Railway Rail Nilayam Secunderabad 2 The Manager Printing & Stationery Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 3 The Asst. Manager Printing & Stationery Railway Printing Press Secunderabad 4 The Chief Personnel Officer South Central Railway Rail Nilayam Secunderabad 5 The Registrar Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad 6. 2CD copies