Eligibility condition fixed by the Board isn’t fair for Technical Members of RCT

Open the post of Technical Member of RCT to other Services and the eligibility condition may be revised as – “Officers should have worked at least for 2 years on a General Post like DRM, AGM or GM” – this is required to be done to provide a level playing field for all the officers belonging to Indian Railways!

As per notification for Technical Members of Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT), the eligible officers will have to possess 25 years of experience in Commercial Claims which appears to be the impossibility for any serving officers having length of  service about 35 to 37 years.

Earlier, the post for Technical Members of RCT was reserved only for two  services i.e. Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS).

Probably for the 1st time the Services has not been indicated in the notification of 11th May, 2022 but experience of 25 years in Commercial Claims has been specified in the notification which doesn’t appear to be logical as hardly any officer even belonging to IRTS or IRAS cadre will be having 25 year of experience.

It is worth mentioing that earlier the post of Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was earmarked only for officers belonging to Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) and the post of Chief Safety Officer (CSO) was earmarked for Indian Railway Traffic Officers but subsequently both these posts was made ex-cadre.

Similarly, earlier the posting of General Manager in Production Units was usually been done from IRSME cadre but subsequently the post of all the General Managers were made ex-cadre and officers belonging to any Service can be posted as General Manager either in Production Units or Open Line. The only condition for becoming GM Open Line is the officer would have worked as DRM.

Now the Railway is in the process of merging the cadre into Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS), it is appropriate time to open the post of Technical Members, Railway Claims Tribunals to all the Services except Medical and RPF.

Officers hanving worked on general post like Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Additional General Manager (AGM) and General Manager (GM) are having very much experience to deal with the Commercial Claims cases during their tenure.

Therefore, Railway Board considers the request of officers to open the post of Technical Members of RCT to other Services also and the eligibility condition may be revised as – “Officers should have worked at least for 2 years on a General Post like DRM, AGM or GM”.

“This is required to be done to provide a level playing field for all the officers belonging to Indian Railways to apply for the post of Technical Members of RCT against this notification”, said a retired senior officer.

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