CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has directed the East Coast Railway to pay Rs 5 lakh compensation to a 47-year-old man for procedural delays in a job-related case.
Bringing relief after a prolonged legal battle since 2012, the court acknowledged that while the man could no longer be granted employment due to age constraints, the injustice caused by procedural delays warranted monetary recompense.
The case dates back to 2009, when the man’s father, an East Coast Railway official, sought his appointment in a Group D post under the general manager’s discretionary quota.
The request was rejected in 2012, citing his higher qualifications and policy change. The required qualification for Group D post was Class X. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Cuttack bench, dismissed his plea in 2017 on grounds of “efflux of time”.
The HC on July 12, 2022, set aside that order and remitted the matter back to the tribunal. But, the CAT to interfere on August 29, 2022, endorsing the ECoR’s contention that he was over-age. He then filed a fresh petition in the HC.
The bench comprising Justices Krishna Shripad Dixit and Chittaranjan Dash on March 24 stated, “In matters like this, award of some monetary compensation would undo the injustice, by way of recompense. In our considered view, a sum of Rs 5 lakh only , if paid to the petitioner, injustice done to him can be undone, at least to some extent.”