Railway Booking Clerk Wages 21-Year Legal Battle To Clear Him Of Charges Of Irregularities, Which Included A ‘Missing’ Rs 10
The case relates to one Narayan Nair; a booking clerk posted in the Shridham railway station in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district when the incident took place: Reports
BHOPAL: A railway booking clerk, dismissed over charges of irregularities which included the allegation of returning 10 less than due to a passenger on the purchase of ticket, won a 21-year legal battle that cleared him of the charges.
The case relates to Narayan Nair, booking clerk posted in the Shridham station in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district. On January 4, 2002, Nair was at the booking counter when a vigilance team arrived for a check. Among them, a decoy passenger claimed that Nair had returned ₹21 instead of ₹31, alleging a shortfall of ₹10. Nair reportedly pleaded that it might a mistaken since there was rush in the counter.
The vigilance team also claimed to have found ₹450 from Nair, which he explained as money he had kept for the treatment of his ailing wife. Disciplinary action was taken against him and he was dismissed from service.
Nair took the legal battle up to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which cleared him of the charges. The court dismissed the allegation of a ₹10 shortfall on the ground that no independent witness supported the charge.
“The charges are not proved even on the standard of probability”, the court ruled and noted that even if minor lapses existed, dismissal from service was harsh and disproportionate.
A senior railway officer of the division, Dr Madhur Verma, on Monday told this newspaper that Nair had retired and the court verdict was being examined by the personnel department to decide how to comply with the order.