After 19 years, pensioners win battle for promotion

The court case was filed by former railway employees in the year 1998.  The pensioners are in their late sixties and early seventies, four of whom have also passed away.

The root of this legal battle lays in the IV pay commission recommendations in the year 1984 and the court case was filed in 1998 and after 19 years the battle has come to an end. 

The Supreme Court has finally given its verdict in favour of 69 retired railway officials and has instructed railway administration to give notional benefits to these officials, but without any arrears. In other words, these officials can get one or two notional promotions along with revised hiked pension. 

The pensioners now in their late sixties and early seventies, four of whom have also passed away, were deprived of the benefits of IV pay commission recommendations of 1984 that led to this legal complication. 

As per that recommendation, the railway administration failed to implement the changes in the inter seniority of Group-A junior scale employees. Because of which when these officials retired they were short of one or two promotions, reported the Times of India.

Then in 1998, retired railway security commissioner, Sony C Vargheese, filed a court case on the ground of denial of promotions as per the recommendations of 1984. The petitioners sought the court for directing the administration to grant them the promotion under Railway Protection Force (Group-A post) Recruitment Rules, 1994 with retrospective effect and the related benefits.

First, the Madras High Court in 2012, asked the railway administration to reconsider their seniority list within a given time frame. Then on April 18, SC passed an order asking the administration to provide benefits to the petitioners notionally.