The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Retired employee wins legal battle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 12, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Retired employee wins legal battle

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: D.J. Manuel, a retired employee of the Railways, has won a four-year legal battle against the Railways.

The Karnataka State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission upheld Mr. Manuel's appeal for railway passes and directed South Western Railway to pay compensation.

Mr. Manuel, a retired non-gazetted Group-C employee, was entitled to two sets of "post-retirement complimentary passes" a year. In 2002, he applied for a pass to travel between Dehradun and Thiruvananthapuram. As the journey involved a deviation from the shortest route, the Railways refused to subsidise the additional cost involved.

In its order, the Commission upheld Mr. Manuel's contention and reference to the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986.

As per clause (7) and sub-rule (b) of Rule 3, employees of the Railways are issued passes from one station to another, via the shortest route.

Passes are given for a longer route but only where the additional distance is not more than 15 per cent of the shortest route.

Compensation

The Commission said the Railways should have granted the request of Mr. Manuel as the deviation was within the stipulated 15 per cent of the 3,289-km Dehradun-Thiruvananthapuram journey. It termed the denial of a pass to Mr. Manuel as "deficiency in service" and ordered compensation of Rs. 10,000 to him.

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