Publish selection list in 3 Months: CAT to ECoR

CUTTACK:  For over 8,000 youth, who have been waiting to know their fate in obtaining a job in the East Coast Railways for more than three years now, hope is round the corner. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Cuttack, has directed the General Manager and Chief Personnel Officer of the East Coast Railways (ECoR) to complete the medical tests and publish the final selection list for appointment to the posts of Trackman and Helper (group D) in  three months. The direction issued by the CAT bench comprising Member (Judicial) AK Patnaik and Member (Administration) CR Mohapatra on  the contempt petition filed by some candidates rejected the plea of the railways seeking six months to implement the orders. The CAT had on March 12, 2010, issued order to the Railways to complete the process of selection and provide employment to the selected candidates within three months. But no action has been taken even after a lapse of more than a year. It may be mentioned here that the advertisement for filling up 5,200 posts of Trackman and Helper (Group D) in ECoR was published in 2007. The written examination was conducted in September and October of the same year with more than a lakh and a half appearing. The candidates who qualified in the written tests were subjected to physical efficiency tests from March 24, 2008 to April 6, 2008.  Thereafter, the Railway authorities had to conduct the medical tests and prepare the final selection list for employment. At this point of time, they developed cold feet and kept on dilly-dallying on the tests. While other Railway divisions completed the selection process and appointed personnel, more than 8,000 candidates who had been eligible for the medical tests were kept hanging. One Tushar Ranjan Barik and three other candidates then filed a writ in the CAT seeking redressal of their problems. The Tribunal had in 2010 ordered immediate completion of the process and appointment of the personnel. But instead of taking action, the Railways moved the Orissa High Court and the Supreme Court citing different reasons for not carrying the process forward. Both the courts declined to intervene in the CAT order deeming it to be correct and dismissed the applications. As no action was still taken, the petitioners had filed a contempt petition against the Railways in CAT.