Petition challenging appointments to come up tomorrow

Nagpur, Sep 26 (UNI) A petition challenging some allegedly 'irregular' appointments to Railway Users' Consultative Committees of Central Railway (CR) will come up for hearing before the High Court here tomorrow.

The petition has challenged the appointments of Suresh Nair and Madanlal Jagasha each to the Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) of CR and the Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee (DRUCC) respectively of its Nagpur Division.

Both the appointments were in violation of the rules as Mr Nair is a coal-handling contractor for the railways, while Mr Jagasha did not represent any registered passengers' association and is a catering contractor for the railways, the petition contends.

As per the Rule 515 of Chapter V of the Indian Railway Code for Traffic (Commercial) Department of the Ministry of Railways, persons holding assignments of profit connected with the railway, like catering and vending contractors, out agency contractors, handling contractors and engineering contractors, were debarred from the membership of the Railway Users Consultative Committees, the petition pointed out.

Similarly, Rule 507 (2) stated that the DRUCC would consist of, among others, 2 representatives of registered passenger associations in the area, said the petition filed by the Bharatiya Yatri Kendra (BYK), a local registered passenger organisation.

Mr Jagasha was nominated to the DRUCC as a representative of Maharashtra Yatri Kendra (MYK), which is not a registered body, the petition said. However, Mr Jagasha later claimed that he represented BYK, which was incorrect, it said.

The petition has named the Union of India through Secretary, Ministry of Railways, the General Manager, CR, Mumbai, the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager and the Divisional Railway Manager of Nagpur Division of CR, Mr Nair and Mr Jagasha as the respondents.

Earlier, a division bench consisting of Justice A H Joshi and Justice R C Chavan issued a notice to the respondents, returnable tomorrow. The term of the two committees is from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2008.

UNI