Holding

The appellant must be placed below all permanent and officiating clerks but above temporary clerks; the 1966 circular does not govern his 1958 transfer.

Summary

The appellant, a clerk transferred at his own request from the North-Eastern Railway to the South-Eastern Railway in 1958, was placed below temporary staff in the seniority list of the Sealdah Division, contrary to Rule 312 of the Railway Establishment Manual. He made representations and later filed a writ petition challenging the seniority fixation. The High Court initially ordered his seniority to be fixed below all permanent and officiating clerks but above temporary clerks, but the Division Bench modified this on the ground of alleged delay. The Supreme Court held that there was no inordinate delay and that the 1966 Railway Board circular, which sought to include temporary staff within the term "officiating," did not apply to a transfer that occurred before its issuance. Consequently, the appellant was entitled to seniority below permanent and officiating clerks and above temporary clerks, and the modification by the Division Bench was set aside.

Issues considered

Whether a railway servant transferred at his own request is entitled under Rule 312 to be placed below existing confirmed and officiating staff, not below temporary staff.
Whether the Railway Board Circular dated 31 December 1966, which expands the meaning of "officiating" to include temporary staff, is applicable to transfers that occurred before its date.
Whether any alleged delay in filing the petition justifies altering the seniority list and the promotions of other respondents.
Interpretation of the terms "officiating" and "temporary" in the context of Rule 312 of the Railway Establishment Manual.

Subjects

seniorityrailway transferRule 312officiating stafftemporary staffRailway Board circularinter se senioritypromotionadministrative error

Judgment

18

A·
ARUN KUMAR CHATTERJEE

v.

ll SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY & ORS.

March I, 1985
[A. P. SEN AND D. P. MADON JJ.,]

c Civ ii S.ervfce

(J) Railway Establishment Manual, Rule 312 read with Railway Board's
Circular No. 1565A-Seniority of Railway Servants on Transfer-How to be
fixed.

D
(2) Words and Phrases-uOfficlating'' and "Temporary"-Meaning
of-" Officiating" does not include temporary staff,

Rule 312 of the Railway Establishment Manual provides that senio·
rity of railway servants transferred on their own request from one railway
to anoth~r should be allowed below that of 1he existing confirmed/officiating
E railway servants in the relevant grade. To t xp!ain thG purport and effect
of r, 312, the Railway Board' issued a Circular No. 1565A dated January
31, 1950 which provided that on transfer at the employee's own request
his position should be at the bottom of the seniority 1.jst of all permanent
employees of his grade, if he is permanent and at the bottom of the whole
Ji~t of permanent and temporary employees if he is temporary. The Rail ..
way. Board's subsequent Circular dt. 31st Dec. 1966 sought to clarify that
F the term 'officiating' in Rule 312 includes temporary staff as well.

The appellant, who was holding a substantive post of a clerk in the
Northern Eastern Railway was transferred on October 15, 1958 on his own
request to the South Eastern Railway and was posted at the Scaldah
Division. He was howe"\ler placed below the temporary staff) namely,
respondents 7 to 45 in the seniority list of the cte1ks in the Sealdah Division
G prepared by tho;l respondent-Southern Eastern Railway in 1967. After
rejection of his two representations in the year 1967 and a remi·
ndcr to the Chief Personnel Officer dated December 21, 1973 against
the wrong fixation of his inter·se seniority, he filed a writ petition in the
High Court on 30th April 1975 challenging the said seniority list. The
Jearnt>d Single Judge held that in pursuance of Rule 312, the relevant senio-
rity of the appellant was governed by the Railway Board',,, Circular No.
1S65A and not-hy its subsequent Circular dated December 31, 1966, and
ff ordered the Railway Administration to refix his seniority below all perman,.
A. k. Cl!ATTERJEE v. SOUTI! EASTERN RLY 19

ent and officiating clerks o'n the date of his transfer in the Sealdah Division, A
but above the temporary clerks in that Division with consequential benefits.
On appeal by the respondent the Division Bench upheld the view of the
learned single Judge butJ observed that due to ioordi.nate delay on the part
of the appellant in moving the c;ourt, there was no justification for inter·
fering with the promotions already made of respondents no. 7 to 45 and
ordered that he should be placed immediately below the remaiQing respon-
dents. 18

Allowing the appeal,

l!)lLD : (I) It would appear from the facts that there. was no delay,
much less inordinate delay, on the part of the appellant in filing the
petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution for the l'rotection of his right
as to inter~se seniority. In fact, he had made three representations in the
c
matter but without any redress. [22E·F]

(2) There can be no doubt on the terms of r. 312 of the Manual read
with Railway Board's Circular No. !565A dated January 31, 1950 that the
appellant had to be placed below all fhe existing confirmed aud officiating
staff in the relevant grade, irrespr.ctive of the date .of bis confirmation Or D
the length of his service. He was not governed by the Railway Board's
Cir.cular dated December 31, 1966 on the date of his transfer. [Z31!; 24A]

(3) According to the ordinary connotation, the word 'officiating' is
generally used when a servant having held one post permanently or subst.
antively, is appointed to a post in a higher rank, but not permanently or
substantively, while still retaining his lien on his substantive post i.e. E
officiating in that post till his confirmation. Io contrast, the word rtCmpor~
ary' usually denotes a -person appointed in the civil service for the first
time and the appointment is not permanent but temporary i.e.
for the time being, with no right to the post. Therefore, the Rail way
', / Board'sinterpretation in the aforesaid Circular dated December 31 1 1966 of
~:.J the 'C'fficiating' in r. 312 of the Railway Establishment Manual, as inclu~
F
ding both ofllciatiog as well as temporary staffJ was apparently wrong. ,
. [24D-E]

(4) The Railway Board's Circular dated October 1,1964 also provides
( that if a person has been promoted not on the date on which be should
have been promoted to some adrllinistrative error then tho employee shoiild
assigned correct seniority vis-a~vis his juniors already promoted irrespeCtive
of the date of promotion and the the pay of siich employee ·in higher grade
on promotion be fixed proforma.at the stage· which he would have· reached
G
if he had been promoted at the proper time. Was no reason for the
Railway Administration to have deprived the appellant of the benefit_ of the
aforesaid circular, particularly in view of an earlier decision of· the High
Court in Lal Mohan Paul's case. [2411; 25A·B]

Lal Mohan Paul v. The General Manager, Eastern Railway, Calcutta &
Ors. Civil Rule No. 620 (W)/70 dated April 23; 1974 approved. H
stlPRm.lB Cot1R1' REPORTS [198)) ~ s.c.R.

A CiviL APPELLATE JURiSDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 387 (N)
of 1981.

From the Judgment and order dated 11.2.1980 of the High
Court of Calcutta in Appeal from Original order No. 588 & 594/79.

Gobind Das and R.P. Singh for the Appellant.

' O.P. Sharma, R.C. Gubrel and R.K. Sharma for the Respon-
dants.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

c SeN, 1. This appeal by special leave raises a question as to
whether the appellant upon his transfer from the North-Eastern
Railway, at his own request, to the South-Eastern Railway was
entitled under r. 312 of the Railway Establishment .Manual, to be
placed in the seniority list below the existing confirmed and officia-
ting staff in the relevant grade and not below the temporary staff.
D
Put very shortly, the essential facts are these. The appellant
was holding the substantive post of a Clerk in the Commercial
Department of the North-Eastern Railway w.e.f. May 22, 1956 and
had applied for his transfer to the South-Eastern Railway in the
same post. On October 15, 1958, he was transferred from the
E North-Eastern Railway, at his own request, to the South-Eastern
Railway and was posted at the Sealdah Division on his existing pay
and scale against an existing vacancy. In 1967, the seniority list
of the Clerks in the Sealdah Division was prepared by the ·South-
Eastern Railway and in that list the appellant was placed below the
temporary staff. Immediately upon' his being placed below the
F
temporary staff, the appellant made two representations, one dated
March 4, 1967 and the other dated April II, 1967, ·in the matter
complaining that he could not be placed below the temporary staff,
)
but without any avail.

Finding that there was no redressal of the wrong done to him,
G
the appellant sent a reminder to the Chief Personnel Officer by name
dated December 21, 1973. The Chief Personnel Officer by his
communication dated October 19, 1974, informed the appellant that
his representation was rejected. On April 30, 1975, the appellant
moved the Calcutta High Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution
H for the issue of an appropriate writ, direction or order in the matter
A. K. CHATTERJEE v. SOUtll EAStERN ll.LY. (Sen, J.) 21

o(_his inter.se seniority, and the High Court issued a rule nlSl. A
During the pcndency of that rnle, respondents Nos. 7 to 45 arrayed
in that petition whom the appellant considered to he junior to him
were promoted to a higher post. . On August 10, 1976, the appellant
filed another petition under Art. 226 of.the Constitution challenging
the.fr promotion. On the same day, the High Court issued a rule
nisi and also directed that the South-Eastern Railway would be at
. liberty to confirm respondents nos. 7 to 45 in their post of promo-
B

tion but such confirmation would be subject to the result of the
rule. In view of the interim order passed by the High Court, the
Chief Personnel Officer by bis letter dated October 10, 1976. clari-
fied.
c
"The above promotion orders arc issued on provisional
basis subject to result of the rule obtained by Sri Arun
Kumar Chatterjee, Clerk CCS (Refunds) Office, in the
Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta."

A learned Single Judge by his judgment and order dated D
February 9, 1979 following the decision of Anil Kumar Sen, J. in
Lal Mohan Paul v. The General Manager. Eastern Railway, Calcutta
& Ors.\1) held that in pursuance of r. 312 the relative_ seniority of
the appellant was governed by the Railway Board's Circular No.
1~65A dated January 31, 1950 and not by its subsequent circular
dqted December 31, 1966. The learned Single Judge accordingly
set aside the impugned order of the Chief Personnel Officer, South- E
Eastern Railway dated October 7, 1974 and ordered that the Rail-
way Administration should ro-fix bis seniority below all permanent
-\. and officiating Clerks on the date of his transfer in the Sealdah
~r Division of the South-Eastern Railway but above the temporary
Clerks in that Division. He further directed that the appd1ant
would be entitled to promotion w .e.f. such date as he was eligible F
for such promotiou according to the seniority so fixed.

The General Manager, South-Eastern Railway preferred an
appeal under cl. 15 of the Letters Patent against the judgment of the
learned Single Judge. A Division Bench of the High Court by its
judgment dated February 11, 1980 while upholding the view
expressed by the learned Single Judge as to the construction and G
effect of r. 312 of the Manual, held that the Circular No. l565A

(!) Civil·Rule No. 620 (W)/70 dated April 23, 1974.
H
SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1985) 3 s.c.R.
A dated January 31, 1950 governed by the inter-se seniority of the
appellant. It however obserbed that due to inordinate delay on his
part in moving the Court, there was no justification .for interfering
with the promotions already made of respondents nos. 7 to 45 and
made the following direction':
B
"In the circumstances, we donot think that we shall be
justified in interfering with the promotions granted to the
respondents. We, however, feel that the appellants' should
I
• have placed the respondent no. I in the seniority list above ).:,
the temporary staff. The Board's circular may be' given
c effect to in the case of the transfer which had taken place
after the date of the said Circular, but before that date we
find no justification why in the face of Rule 312 the respon-
dent no. 1 should not have been given the proper seniority
by placing him above the temporary staff. In our opinion,
the respondent no. I should be placed immediately below •
.D the remaining respondents in FMA 588 of 1979, the senio-
rity list. The judgment of the learned Judge is modified to
the extent indicated above."

It accordingly modified the judgment and order of the learned -+-
Judge to the extent indicated above.
E
We have set out the facts at some length. It would appear
from these facts that there was no delay, much less inordinate delay,
on the part of the appellant in filing the petition under Art. 226 of
the Constitution for the protection of his right as to inter-se senio·
rity. Earlier, he had made three representations to the departmental
authorities in.the matter without any redress. If the attention of
F
the learned Judges had been drawn to these facts, -they would not
have made the aforesaid modification. It is, however, argued that
the order of posting on transfer communicated by the Chief Person·
nel Officer dated October 14, 1958 specifically stated that the
seniority of the appellant would be counted from the date of his
G posting below all permanent and temporary Clerks. In his supple-
mentary rejoinder, the appellant has controverted this fact and there
is nothing on record to show that the said order of posting was ever
communicated to him,

Rule 312 of the Railway Establishment Mapua! reads as
H follows :
A. K. CHATTERJEE V. SOUTH EASTERN RLY. (Sen, J.) 23

A
"Transfer 011 request-Seniority of Railway Servants
transferred. on their own request from one Railway to
another should be allowed below that of the existing
confirmed/officiating railway servants in the relevant grade
in the promotion group in the new establishment irrespective
of the date of confirmation or length of officiating service n
of the transferred railway servant."

We may then set out the two circulars issued by the Railway
Board explaining the purport and effect of r. 312. Circular No.
1565A dated January 31, 1950 was explanatory and, insofar as
material, reads : c
"On transfer at the employee's own request or to save
his own interests his position should be at the bottom of
the seniority list of all permanent; employees of his grade,
if he is permanent, and at the bottom of the whole list of
employees (both permanent and temporary) in his grade, D
if he is temporary."

The Railway Board's subsequent circular dated December
31, 1966 sought to clarify that the term 'officiating' in r .. 312 includes
temporary staff as well and that an employee transferred at his own
request to a new establishemcnt should be placed at the bottom of E
the seniority list in his relevant grade in that establishment. It
provides :

"It has been brought to the notice of the Railway
Board that the orders contained in their letter No.
E55SR6/3 dated 19.5.55 have been interpreted by your F
administration so as to exclude temporary staff from the
purview of the term officiating staff, occurring theirin. The
Board desire to point out that the term officiating' occuring
in Board's letter dated 19.5.1955 includes temporary staff
as well. That is to say that an employee transferred at his
t G
own request to a new Establishment should be placed at the
bottom of the seniority list in the relevant grade in that
Establishment."

There cari be no doubt on the terms of r. 312 of the Manual
. read with Railway Board's Circular No. 1565A dated January 31,
1950 that the appellant having been transfeJ'fed, at his own request,
from one railway to another, had to be placed below &11 the existin(l U
24 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1985] 3 s.c.a.

A confirmed and officiating staff in the relevant . grade, irrespective of
the date of his confirmation or the length of his service. The appel-
lant on the date of his trnnsfer i.e. on October 15, 1958 was not
governed by the Railway Board's Circular dated December 'll, 1966.
In Lal Mohan Paul's case, supra, Anil Kumar Sen,.J. in a case
where a railway employee )Vas. transferred on September 30, 1959,
B at his own request, from one railway to another hdd that he was
governed by the Railway Board's Circular No. !565A dated January
31, 1950 and not by the subsequent circulars and therefore was
entitled to be placed in the seniority list below the existing confirmed
and officiating staff in the relevant grade and not below the
temporary staff. We uphold the view expressed by Sen, J. in
c La/ Mohan Paul's case, supra.

That apart, the Railway Board's interpretation in the afore~aid
Circular dated December 31, 1966, of the term 'officiating' for. 312
of tl1c Railway Establishment Manual, as including both officiating
as well as temporary staff, was apparently wrong. According to its
D
ordinary connotation, the word 'officiating' is generally used when a
servant having held one post permanently or substantively, is
, appointed to a post in a higher rank, but not permanently or sub-
stantively while still retaining his lien on his substantive post i.e.
officiating in that . post till his confirmation. Such officiating
E appointment may be made when there is a temporary vacancy
in a higher post due to the death or retirement of the
incumbent or otherwise In contrast, the word 'temporary' usually
denotes a person appointed in the civil service for the first time and
the appointment is not permanent but temporary i.e. for the time
being, with no right to the post.
F
We find no justification for the attitude adopted by the Rail-
way Administration in depriving the appellant of his legitimate
rights. Loss of seniority of a Government servant with consequent
lose of promotional prospects, higher. pay and emoluments is a
melter of serious consequence to him. When the appellan.t by '
his representations drew the attantion of the departmental authori-
0 ties to the injustice done to him, it was their duty to have rectified
the mistake and re-fixed the seniority .of the appellant. It was
precisely to meet a situation of this kind that the Railway Board's
Circular dated Octqber 16, l 964 was issued. l t provides that if a
person has been promoted but not on the date on which he should
have been promoted due to some administrative error then the
employee should be assigned correct seniority vis-a-vis his juniors
A. K. CHATTERJEE v. SOUTH EASTERN RLY. (Sen, J.) !5

already promoted irrespective of the date of promotion. It further
provides that the pay of such employee in higher grade on promotion
will be fixed proforma at the stage which he would have reached
if he had been promoted at the proper time. There was no reason
for the Railway Administration to have deprived the appellant of
· the benefit of the aforesaid circular, .particularly in view of tllo
deci!ion of Anil Kumar Sen, J. in Lal Mohan Paul's case, supra.

The result therefore is that the appeal must succeed and j,
allowed with costs throughout. The order passed by the Division
Bench of thr Calcutta High Court making a modification in tho
judgment of the learned Single Judge is set aside and the judgmeat
.and order o(the learned Single Judge allowing the writ petiiion fikd
by the appellant is restored.

M.L.A. Appeal allowed.