Medically decategorized railway employees must receive alternative posts carrying the same pay scale and service benefits.

The applicant, a Pointsman A in Pay Matrix Level 2, was medically decategorized and found fit for alternative employment in specified lower medical categories.

The Railway administration first proposed his absorption as Assistant Works and later appointed him as General Assistant in the Operating Department, a Level 1 post, while stating that his existing pay would be protected.

He sought appointment to a post carrying the same pay scale as his former post, including Junior Clerk-cum-Typist.

He did not qualify in written examinations for Junior Clerk vacancies under the relevant departmental selections.

After his representations were rejected, he challenged the alternative appointment orders and sought consideration for an equivalent post.

1. Whether the applicant’s appointment as General Assistant, a post lower in pay level than the post he held before medical decategorization, complied with the applicable provisions governing alternative employment.

2. Whether the applicant was entitled to appointment as Junior Clerk-cum-Typist, or another equivalent post, despite failing the relevant written examination.

Paragraph 1301 of Chapter XIII of the Indian Railway Establishment Manual, Volume I (IREM), provides that a Railway servant who becomes physically incapable of performing the duties of the post held should not be dispensed with or reduced in rank, but should be shifted to another post “with the same pay scale and service benefits”.

The Tribunal relied on its earlier decisions in O.A. No. 137/2024 and O.A. No. 67/2022, which directed the Railway administration to provide medically decategorized employees with alternative posts carrying the same pay scale and service benefits.

Although the applicant relied on Section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Tribunal’s stated basis for decision was the IREM; it did not decide the Act’s applicability to medically decategorized employees.

The applicant’s General Assistant appointment was to a post in Level 1, whereas he had held a Level 2 post before medical decategorization.

Applying paragraph 1301 and its reasoning in the earlier cases, the Tribunal held that pay protection alone did not satisfy the requirement to provide an alternative post with the same pay scale and service benefits.

However, because the applicant had failed the written examination for Junior Clerk-cum-Typist, he could not claim that particular post; his entitlement was to consideration for another suitable alternative post meeting the IREM standard.

It directed the respondents to issue appropriate orders appointing him to an alternative post carrying the same pay scale and service benefits as his post at the time of medical decategorization, as expeditiously as possible and within two months of receiving the order.

No order as to costs was made.