1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO.722 OF 2009 (The Union of India and another vs. Sunil s/o Dhondopant Nagpurkar) ___________________________________________________________________ Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. CORAM : D.D. SINHA AND A.P. BHANGALE, JJ. DATED : FEBRUARY 24, 2009 Heard Shri Bhangde, learned Counsel for the petitioners, and Mrs. Biala, learned Counsel for the respondent. Shri Bhangde, learned Counsel for the petitioners, states that though under Rule 17 of the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986, Ministry of Railway is vested with the power to modify the rules, which includes power to amend, delete, relax any of the provisions contained in the rules. However, by the impugned order, the Central Administrative Tribunal has directed the petitioners to put up the case of the respondent before the Ministry of Railway to include father as dependent and allow the claim of the reimbursement preferred by the respondent by relaxing the provisions of these Rules. 2 It is submitted that under Rule 17, it is for the concerned Ministry/Authority to consider this aspect and to take a decision accordingly and the Tribunal cannot direct the said Authority to modify, amend, delete or relax the provisions of the Rules and, therefore, appropriate directions in this regard may be issued. Mrs. Biala, learned Counsel for the respondent, states that by the impugned order, direction is given to the petitioners to forward claim of the respondent to the Ministry of Railway and the Minister for Railway is entitled to modify, amend, delete or relax the rules, if he thinks so to include father of the petitioner as dependent and is also entitled to take a decision about reimbursement of the medical claim. We have considered the rival contentions of the learned Counsel for the parties and perused Rule 17, which read thus : “17 Powers to modify, etc. :- The provisions contained in Pass Manuals issued by the respective Railway or any of provisions on Passes contained in any other Manual/Rules, etc. shall be valid provided it is not in contravention with the visions laid down in these Rules.” 3 Plain reading of Rule 17 shows that power to include, modify, amend, delete or relax any of the provisions contained in the Rules is vested with the Ministry of Railways and in a given case, the Minister is entitled to take a decision accordingly. In the instant case, direction issued by the Tribunal to the petitioners is merely to forward the proposal of the respondent to the Ministry of Railways for consideration whether the father of the respondent could be included in the category of dependent and it is for the Minister to decide this issue independently on its own merits as well as in accordance with law. Similar is the case with reimbursement of the medical bills. There is no direction to allow the claim of the respondent or to include the name of the respondent's father as dependent. This decision necessarily will have to be taken by the concerned Minister on its own merits and in accordance with law. With these observations, the petition is disposed of. JUDGE JUDGE khj 4