CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has set aside the compulsory retirement of a South Eastern Railway employee in the rank of deputy station superintendent, ruling that the punishment imposed in a proceeding was grossly disproportionate to the alleged unauthorised absence.
The court directed the Railway authorities to treat him as having remained in service until his normal age of superannuation for the limited purpose of calculating pensionary and retiral benefits, besides paying him 50 per cent back wages for the intervening period. The court also directed the railway to release the dues within 60 days.
A division bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Chittaranjan Dash passed the order in a recent judgment while considering a writ petition filed by Jaya Chandra Mishra challenging the October 29, 2021 judgment of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack bench, which had upheld the disciplinary authority’s decision to compulsorily retire him.
Appearing in person, Jaya argued that although the punishment had been reduced from removal from service to compulsory retirement in revision, he had not received any terminal benefits, including pension. He further submitted that nearly seven years of service remained when the penalty was imposed and that he had since attained the age of superannuation during pendency of the litigation.
The bench observed, “The punishment imposed bears little proportion to the misconduct alleged. The resultant punishment, therefore, travels beyond the realm of disciplinary correction and enters the domain of disproportionality.”
According to the case records, the petitioner, a former deputy station superintendent, had lost his right leg in a 1999 accident while in service and was subsequently medically de-categorised.