Title - Railway Board norm on promotion struck down

The Madras high court has struck down as unconstitutional the condition stipulated by the Railway Board that pay will not be stepped up if the employee has been promoted to the post of head clerk against quota reserved for SC/ST/OBC/ Sports, even before becoming eligible for the post carrying special pay.A division bench allowed the petition filed by A. Geetha, challenging the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal that rejected her plea to grant special pay on par with her junior. According to Geetha, she joined ICF as office clerk in 1986 and was promoted as senior clerk and head clerk. Ten per cent of senior clerks were privileged with special pay.Initially special pay extended to 10 per cent of senior clerks was not reckoned as pay for fixation of pay. However, by an award by the Board of Arbitration, special pay was sought to be reckoned as pay for fixation of pay and thereby an anomaly of junior drawing higher pay than seniors arose.Hence, the have made mandatory instructions providing for stepping up of seniors pay on par with juniors. However, this was denied to her by the ICF, she said. The bench said the petitioner’s representation to authorities for grant of special pay was rejected on the ground that when her turn came for posting against a special pay post, she was on maternity leave and was promoted as head clerk against a post reserved for SC community.

“It is not in dispute that right of promotion as per Article 16.4 (A) is guaranteed under the Constitution to the persons belonging to SC and ST and, therefore, the denial of stepping up of pay of the petitioner on par with her junior on the ground that she got promotion as head clerk and she belongs to SC community would amount to illegality,” the bench said.