Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station Collies Welfare Union v. UOI and Ors

ORDER

14.11.2011

¶1Transfer of 100 licensed porters from Old Delhi Railway Station to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, New Delhi, vide order of 06.01.2011, passed by Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Office of Divisional Rail Manager, New Delhi Railway Station, was challenged by way of this writ petition by Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station Coolies Welfare Union but this petition was entertained only on behalf of one such coolie - Sughan, who had signed in this petition as the petitioner-Union was not registered and thus, had no locus standi to file this petition.

¶2Normally in matters of transfers, Courts are quite reluctant to exercise the writ jurisdiction. However, in the instant case, transfers made vide impugned order of 6.1.2011 W.P.[C)No. 1283/2011 Page1 Certify that the digital file and physical file have been compared and the digital data is as per the physical file and no page is missing. (Annexure P-7), are stated to be contrary to the Railway Board Policy (Annexure P-6) and as per learned counsel for the petitioner, the impugned order arbitrarily effecting the transfers has not followed the criteria, as laid down by the respondents themselves in the Communication of 26.8.2005 (Annexure P-10), which deserves notice and it reads as under:-Transfer will be done on following criteria:-

¶1Seniority of the applicant

¶2No complaint against particular application for last T five years in service record.

¶3Physical fitness.

¶4Transferred coolies will not transfer his badge for % next five years to any coolie Transfer of badge will be made after death and any untoward accident or physically handicapped. This transfer is made on the basis of application.'

¶3During the course of hearing learned counsel for the V petitioner had drawn attention of this Court to Communication of 20.10.2010 (Annexure P-8) from Commercial Inspector of Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station to the Station j Managerof the said Railway Stationdisclosingthat there was no ^ ^ need of more coolies, as 102 Coolies had come bacl< again from Gang Man. According to learned counsel for the petitioner, the impugned order has resulted in starvation of the transferred coolies and has created discord amongst the transferred coolies and the existing coolies at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station and despite Representations, the grievance of these transferred coolies have not been addressed and even the Representation of W.P.(C)No. 1283/2011 Page2 H I'A

03.02.2011 (Annexure P-9) to the Railway ivjinister as well as to the respondents herein, has yielded no results.

¶4When called upon to disclose as to which respondent is the competent authority who is to effectively decide Representation (Annexure P-9), it was disclosed by learned counsel for the respondents that respondent No.4-DivisionalRail Manager has to do so.

¶5Accordingly,this writ petition is disposed of, with direction to respondent No. 4 to decide Representation (Annexure P-9) in the light of the Railway Board Policy (AnnexureP-6), as disclosed in response to the Right to Informationsought and to follow the criteria as noted in Communication of 26.8.2005 (Annexure P-10) while taking note of its Communication of 20.10.2010 (Annexure P-8). The needful be done promptly or latest within 3 months from today, after hearing the representative of the petitioner.

¶6Copy of this Order be sent to respondent No. 4 forthwith along with Annexures P-6 and P-8 to P-10 for compliance.

¶7Dasti. CM No.2711/2011 (u/S 151 CPC) Dismissed as infructuous. NOVEMBER 14, 2011 rs ;UNIL GAUR) JUDGE W.P.(C)No. 1283/2011 Page3

•f } IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 1283/2011 & CM No.2711/2011 HAZRAT NIZAMUDDIN RAILWAYSTATION COLLIES WELFARE UNION Petitioner Through: Mr. Krishan Mohan, Advocate. versus UOl AND ORS. Respondents Through: Mr. Chandan Kumar, Advocate CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUNIL GAUR %