Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 7, 2022 at 17:16 IST
The Telangana High Court has made it clear to Sanjeev Kishore, General Manager of South Central Railway, and other officials that they must comply with the court’s order that AC Coach Mechanics (ACCMs) and AC Coach Attendants (ACCAs) are eligible to get payment of overtime allowance (OTA) for the halt period at outstations, within four weeks of the date of the order, or else they must appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing and explain their non-compliance.
A Division Bench of the Court made the order in a contempt case brought by KRK Rao, an AC mechanic with South Central Railway, and 105 other others. The Directive was also given to M Prasad Rao, Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, Sanchalan Bhavan, Secunderabad, and Abhay Kumar Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager.
The Divisional Railway Manager of the Secundrabad Division denied the petitioners demand for payment of OTA for outstation standstill periods. They filed a petition to the Hyderabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
The Union of India responded by filing a writ petition through the General Manager (P), South Central Railway, Secunderabad.
The applicants before the court cited an Apex Court ruling as well as a Chhattisgarh High Court order approving comparable claims. The High Court order for the Railway Authorities to prolong the profit to similarly situated employees after the Apex Court’s decision in “Amrit Lal Berry v. CCE” and “Inder Pal Yadav v. Union of India” in order to prevent several cities of litigation.