Employees having received three promotions or financial upgradations are ineligible for further benefits under MACPS.

The applicants, employees of the West Central Railway, filed Original Applications (OAs) seeking a direction to modify the order dated 03.08.2015 and the rejection order dated 19.11.2015.

They sought the promotional pay scale of Rs. 9300-34800/- with Grade Pay (GP) of Rs. 4200/- under the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS).

Applicants No. 1 and 2 were appointed as Typists in September 1989 in the pay scale of Rs. 950-1500 and were promoted to Senior Typist (Rs. 1200-2040) in 1991.

They were granted the benefit of the 2nd MACP with a GP of Rs. 2800/- effective 01.09.2008 and were later promoted to Office Superintendent (O.S.) Typist with a GP of Rs. 4200/- effective 01.11.2013.

The applicants contended that based on various judicial precedents, they were entitled to the higher GP of Rs. 4200/- earlier in their service timeline, whereas the respondents maintained that the applicants had already received three promotions/upgradations, thereby exhausting their claims under the scheme.

1. Whether the applicants are entitled to further financial upgradation or modification of their pay scale under the MACP Scheme.

2. Whether the judicial precedents cited by the applicants regarding the grant of GP Rs. 4200/- are applicable to the specific factual matrix of this case.

Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) for Railway Employees, introduced via Railway Board letter dated 10.06.2009 (RBE No. 101/2009), which provides for three financial upgradations at intervals of 10, 20, and 30 years of continuous regular service, counted from the direct entry grade.

Railway Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 (RBE No. 108/2008), which governs the placement in the immediate next higher grade pay in the hierarchy.

Assured Career Progression (ACP) Scheme (Letter dated 01.10.1999), which granted two financial upgradations after 12 and 24 years of service.

The Tribunal observed that the applicants had undergone a specific progression: (i) Initial appointment in 1989; (ii) First promotion to Senior Typist in 1991; (iii) Second financial upgradation under MACPS to GP Rs. 2800/- in 2008; and (iv) Third promotion to O.S. Typist with GP Rs. 4200/- in 2013.

The Tribunal reasoned that since the MACP Scheme is designed to provide only three financial upgradations/promotions in the absence of regular promotions, and the applicants had already secured three such advancements (two promotions and one MACP upgradation), they were not entitled to any further benefits under the scheme.

The Tribunal rejected the applicants' reliance on judgments from the CAT New Delhi and the Punjab and Haryana High Court (e.g., CWP No. 19387/2011), holding that the facts of those cases were "totally distinct" and not applicable to the present circumstances.

Consequently, the Original Applications were dismissed, no costs were imposed, and all pending Miscellaneous Applications (MAs) were closed.