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Judgment
Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, Chairman
The applicants were selected and appointed to various services in the Indian Railways in the years 2017 and 2018. They intend to appear for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2020. The Railways issued a Circular dated 27.04.2016, that stipulated conditions to be followed at the induction of the IRS Officers. One such condition is that the selected candidate shall submit a declaration to the effect that in case he plans to appear in the next CSE, to improve his career prospects, he shall apply for grant of one year extraordinary leave. A sequel to this is that those who do not intend to appear in the next CSE, shall submit declaration in Form 'B', mentioning the same. They would be allowed to undergo training.
In this OA, the applicants challenge the Circular dated 27.04.2016. According to them, the Circular would deprive them of the opportunity to improve their career prospects, and it is arbitrary and unconstitutional. Various contentions are also urged.
Challenging this very circular, persons, similarly situated as the applicants filed O.A. No. 1567/2017, before this Tribunal. Through a detailed order dated 29.05.2019, the OA was dismissed. Following the same, several other OAs were also dismissed. Applicants in some of the OAs filed Writ Petition Nos. 6486/2019 and batch before the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. Interim orders were passed on 30.05.2019, permitting them to appear in the CSE 2019. A further order was passed on 12.05.2019 in relation to the main examination. It was also observed that the appearance shall be subject to the result of the Writ Petitions. The Writ Petitions are pending.
The applicants herein intend to challenge the very Circular dated 27.04.2016. Initially, they filed Writ Petition No.6106/2020 before the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi. That was dismissed as withdrawn, leaving it open to the applicants to approach this Tribunal. The Hon'ble High Court was also pleased to observe that it shall be open to the applicants to draw the attention of this Tribunal to the interim orders dated 30.05.2019 passed by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in Writ Petition Nos. 6486/2019 and batch.
We heard Mr. Ashim Sridhar with Ms. Niyati Patwardhan, learned counsel for the applicants and Mr. R.V. Sinha and Mr. Krishan Kant Sharma, learned counsel for the respondents.
As observed earlier, the challenge in this OA is to the Circular dated 27.04.2016. A batch of OAs, wherein the same Circular was challenged was dismissed by this Tribunal on 29.05.2019. As a matter of fact, number of OAs were dismissed thereafter, following the said judgment.
It is no doubt true that the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi passed interim orders dated 30.05.2019 and 12.05.2019 in Writ Petition Nos. 6486/2019 and batch. We, however, face a typical and delicate situation now. Having dismissed a batch of OAs, we cannot entertain the present OA, wherein the same Circular is challenged. It is only when the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has finally decided, creating a situation for fresh adjudication on the circular that a OA of this nature can be entertained.
To be consistent with the earlier orders, we need to dismiss this O.A. also.
The learned counsel for the Applicants has drawn our attention to the interim orders dated 30.05.2019 and 12.05.2019 passed by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in W.P.No.6489/2019 & batch. It is not uncommon that when a situation exists for entertaining the OA, the orders that are passed by the Hon'ble High Court are to be respected and repeated by the Tribunal also. However, when the O.A. itself is not entertained, the question of our passing the interim order may not arise. It is in the discretion of the Hon'ble High Court, to pass such interim orders. With due respect, we express our inability to pass the interim orders, once we are dismissing the O.A.
The OA is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.