Medically de-categorized railway employees must be accommodated in posts carrying equivalent grade pay.

The applicant, a Railway employee, joined as Diesel Cleaner in 1988 and was ultimately promoted as Technician Grade-I (Mechanical) in Grade Pay (GP) of ₹2,800.

Following a road accident on 15.07.2018, he was medically declared unfit for his original post in the BEE-1 medical category but fit for an alternative post in the CEE-1 category and below, where active locomotion was not required.

Pursuant to a suitability assessment, the respondents posted him as Store Khalasi in GP of ₹1,800 by order dated 04.12.2019.

The applicant challenged the posting, contending that it placed him four levels below his previous post and violated the Railway Board’s policy and paragraphs 1301–1308 of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual (IREM), which required absorption in an alternative post carrying the same pay scale and service benefits.

The respondents maintained that no equivalent vacancy was available, that the applicant’s pay had been protected, and that the governing rules permitted absorption in another available category.

Whether a Railway employee medically de-categorized during service could be posted to a post carrying a GP substantially lower than that of his previous post, despite the protection afforded by the IREM and Railway Board instructions.

Whether the respondents were required to locate and adjust the applicant against an alternative post equivalent to his previous GP of ₹2,800, rather than posting him as Store Khalasi in GP of ₹1,800.

Whether the applicant’s representations and the respondents’ treatment of similarly placed employees justified interference with the impugned posting order.

The Tribunal applied Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, governing applications before the Tribunal.

It relied principally on paragraphs 1301–1303 of Chapter XIII of the IREM, which provide that a Railway servant who becomes medically incapable of performing the duties of the existing post should not be dismissed or reduced in rank, but should be shifted to another post carrying the same pay scale and service benefits; where immediate absorption is not possible, a supernumerary post may be created pending suitable alternative employment.

Paragraph 1306 requires the administration to undertake efforts to identify suitable alternative employment, including by examining available vacancies, while paragraph 1308 concerns protection of pay on absorption.

Paragraph 1311, relied upon by the respondents, excludes certain cases involving a change of category on medical grounds from the benefit of the special rules and treats them as transfers on the employee’s own request.

The Tribunal also considered Railway Board instructions dated 12.06.2015 and Master Circular No. 25 dated 19.04.1991, which direct that medically de-categorized staff should first be considered for suitable posts in their own department and thereafter, where necessary, for ministerial posts.

The Tribunal treated the applicant’s placement in GP of ₹1,800 as a substantial reduction from his previous GP of ₹2,800 and held that such a reduction, although accompanied by pay protection, effectively amounted to a major penalty imposed without any misconduct or default on the applicant’s part.

Applying paragraph 1301 of the IREM, the Tribunal held that medical de-categorization should result in redeployment to an alternative post at an equivalent level, with preservation of the employee’s service benefits, rather than reduction to a substantially inferior grade.

The respondents’ contentions regarding absence of vacancy, the suitability committee’s decision, and pay protection did not justify placing the applicant four levels below his former post.

The Tribunal also relied on the requirement of judicial consistency and the alleged adjustment of similarly placed employees in equivalent GP posts.

Accordingly, the Store Khalasi posting was found inconsistent with the governing Railway rules and policy.

The respondents were directed to adjust him in a post equivalent to GP of ₹2,800, which he had been drawing before medical de-categorization, within eight weeks from receipt of a certified copy of the order.

Pending miscellaneous applications were disposed of, and no order as to costs was made.