Case: Paresh Chandra Nandi Vs. Controller of Stores, N.F. Railway, Pandu &amp; Others

2. The appellant joined service in thet Frontier Railway as a Depot clerk in 1942 and was confirmed and made permanent in that post on August 15, 1947. He was promoted to the post of a Ward Keeper on June 4, 1949 in the Depot Wing of the Controller of Stores.      3. During the last World War, the said Railway organised temporarily a Food Supply Organisation wherein a number of persons, including respondents 4 to 8, were appointed. Respondent 4 was appointed as a salesman in the said organisation in 1944 and was confirmed with effect from August 15, 1947 under the Deputy Traffic Superintendent, Lumding. Respondent 5 was appointed a clerk in 1943 and was confirmed in the Head Office Wing of the Controller of Stores Department in 1944. Respondent 6 was appointed in 1943 and was confirmed in his post under the Deputy Traffic Superintendent, Lumding with effect from August 15, 1947. Respondent 7 was appointed first as a salesman in 1943, and then as a clerk in 1944 in that organisation and was confirmed with effect from August 15, 1947. Respondent 8 was appointed a Ward Keeper in 1943 and was confirmed asr under the Deputy Traffic Superintendent, Lumding with effect from August 15, 1947. Thus, both the appellant and respondents 4 to 8 were confirmed in their respective posts on the same day, i.e. August 15, 1947.      4. On termination of the War, the Food Supply Organisation was wound up. The Railway Board, thereupon, decided that the temporary staff employed in that organisation should be absorbed in the other departments and should be confirmed in the same manner as the temporary staff initially recruited in the other departments. With a view to implement this policy directions were issued to keep unfilled 10 per cent of the vacancies in permanent posts and accommodate in such vacancies the staff of the said organisation. Accordingly, the members of the staff of the said organisation were gradually absorbed in the various departments. In January 1951, the then Chief Administrative Officer issued a list showing the absorption of the staff of the said organisation against the 10 per cent reservation in the permanent posts in the different departments and their confirmation in such posts. Respondents 4 to 7 were shown in the said list in the category and scale of TYC/0 and respondent 8 as ticket collector with effect from August 15, 1947 and were allotted to the office of the Deputy Traffic Superintendent, Lumding. They, therefore, acquired their lien on the respective posts assigned to them and declared against their names in the said list.      5. The Controller of Stores, by a Memorandum dated May 26, 1960, transferred the lien of respondents 4 to 8 to the Stores Department wherein the appellant, as aforesaid, was a permanent, from the respective posts to which they were assigned with effect from August 15, 1947 against the posts of Depot Clerks. The Memorandum also declared that the seniority of respondents 4 to 8 should be given effect to as from August 15, 1947 in the Stores Department.      6. The grievance of the appellant was that by bringing in respondents 4 to 8 in the Stores Department and transferring their lien in the Stores Department and calculating their seniority with effect from August 15, 1947, his chances for promotion were materially affected. His case was that the two wings, namely, the Depot Wing and the Head Office Wing, being separate and having separate cadres, and respondents 4 to 7 having been absorbed as permanent employees in the Head Office Wing with effect from August 15, 1947, their liens could not be validly transferred. This was particularly so, as, according to him, there were no permanent vacancies in the Stores Department over which their liens could be transferred. According to him, therefore, the transfer effected under the said memorandum was invalid and inoperative.      7. Having unsuccessfully exhausted his departmental remedies through representations, the appellant filed the writ petition in the High Court challenging the validity of the said memorandum and, as aforesaid, the High Court dismissed the writ petition. Hence this appeal.

Reasoning: 8. In our view, the High Court rightly rejected the appellants challenge to the validity of the said memorandum as he was not able to show that the said memorandum was in any manner contrary to the statutory rules governing the employment of the railway employees10. The question is, could the railway authorities, under the rules, transfer or not any one or more of the said staff so absorbed from the posts where they were allotted to any other department or departments where such transfer or transfers became administratively necessary.12. Two things are thus clear, (1) that the competent authority has the power to transfer a railway employee even though he holds a permanent post from one such post to another under R. 2011, and (2) that once such an employee is transferred from one permanent post to another permanent post, he is entitled to a lien in respect of that another post to which he is permanently posted as a result of the transfer. This is the effect of R. 2007. That being so, the appellant could not possibly contend that the transfers of respondents 4 to 8 to the Stores Department were contrary to the Fundamental Rules or that the transfer of their liens from the posts to which they were posted in 1947 to the posts in the Stores Department was in any manner contrary to the rules13. The other point raised by the appellant was also without substance as he failed to show before the High Court that these transfers were made without there being vacancies in the respective posts to which respondents 4 to 8 were transferred. That being the position, the High Court was right in dismissing the appellants write petition.