Bench notes Sreedharan’s ‘exemplary service’,upholds HC order

“It was clear to us that the judges did not approve of the appeal. They were most likely to have rejected it. This would have given a bad name to the government,” said advocate V S R Krishna,the government counsel in the case. “We also wanted to protect the interest of all parties involved,so,keeping all considerations in mind,we decided to withdraw the appeal,” Krishna said.

Sreedharan had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in 2002,when talks with the Konkan Railway Corporation failed. According to his lawyer Tarun Johri,after retiring from the Indian Railways in 1990,Sreedharan joined Konkan Railway on a pay scale of Rs 9,000 to 10,000 for a period of five years. Konkan Railway,however,began deducting Rs 4,000 from his salary contending that it was a re-employment under the Union Government and he could not draw pension and salary from two government departments at the same time. The Centre had,at the time,argued that Sreedharan’s appointment was made after consultations with the Ministry of Railways and the Department of Public Enterprises,under whose rules,“there was no provision of fresh employment.”

The subtraction meant that after all other deductions Sreedharan took home a mere Rs 1,080 per month,which was much lesser than what his juniors took home. At the time,in his petition,Sreedharan had submitted to the court that even those officers,who were junior to him,like the “respective head of departments were taking home as much as Rs. 5,000 per month.”

In December,a Bench termed Sreedharan’s appointment to Konkan as a fresh appointment and asked the Centre to pay Sreedharan the pending amount of approximately Rs 10 lakh and a cost of Rs 30,000.

The Centre then challenged the order. On Tuesday,however,when the matter came up before the Division Bench,it expressed anger at the Centre’s decision and also threatened to impose a heavy penalty,noting Sreedharan’s “exemplary service to the nation.”