Dir/PSU Defies Supreme Court: Eight-Year Ordeal of Retrenched Burn Standard Officers and Workers
Kolkata: In an alarming display of administrative defiance, the Director (PSU) of the Railway Board continues to block the reinstatement and salary disbursements of three permanent young officers and fifty-four workers of the erstwhile Burn Standard Company Limited. Despite unequivocal judicial mandates from the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, and the Calcutta High Court, administrative high-handedness has left these employees stripped of their livelihood for the past eight years, reduced to destitution while holding valid central government employee status.
The roots of this systemic victimization trace back to the administrative transition of Burn Standard Company Limited, whose administrative control was transferred from the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises to the Ministry of Railways under Cabinet Secretariat letter number CCEA/17/2010(1) dated June 17, 2010, followed by Railway Board order number 2009/M(W)/814/7/BSCL dated July 9, 2010, and governed by the Nationalisation Act of 1976. Under these statutory provisions, the affected personnel hold the undisputed status of central government employees.
A prime illustration of this administrative apathy is Samit Das, who received a permanent appointment as Junior Manager (Engineering) on February 6, 2017, referencing letter number PRSL/AO/HW/063 after successfully completing over four years as a trainee. However, on September 25, 2018, through letter number CMD 00374, authorities arbitrarily invoked the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 to summarily retrench him and his colleagues under the pretext of refusing voluntary retirement schemes. This punitive action grossly violated Department of Personnel guidelines, given that these officers had completed only a year and a half of service at the time of the notice, making them entirely ineligible for VRS options.
The judiciary has repeatedly intervened to strike down these illegal maneuvers. On May 13, 2019, the NCLAT in order number 141 of 2018 explicitly set aside the unlawful retrenchment. This was robustly reinforced by the Supreme Court of India in orders numbers 5251 to 5254 of 2019 dated July 15, 2019, which not only invalidated the retrenchment but also scrapped all underlying resolution plans.
Furthermore, the Joint Secretary for Industrial Relations, through order number L-51016/01/ 2018-IR(PG) dated December 19, 2019, affirmed that the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 holds no applicability to these three officers. Most recently, the Calcutta High Court in order number WPA 11549 of 2024 dated May 9, 2024, reaffirmed their rightful standing as central government employees.
Despite this unbroken chain of legal victories, Eastern Railway authorities routinely cite Railway Board letter number 2019/PL/57/20 (Pt I) dated December 23, 2012, issued by the Director (PSU), to bypass the apex court’s directives and disregard ground realities. This bureaucratic stonewalling has inflicted severe financial and mental distress on individuals who dedicated their early professional years to public sector infrastructure.
The ongoing suppression of legal verdicts by executive fiat sets a dangerous precedent for labour rights within national infrastructure bodies. Immediate intervention from the highest echelons of the Ministry of Railways is urgently warranted to rescind the contentious administrative circulars, reinstate the three young officers into Eastern Railways alongside all pending arrears, and clear the long-overdue statutory dues of the fifty-four workers without further delay.