Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pitch for enabling even a common man in “hawai chappals” (slippers) to use air travel services and “sabka saath, sabka vikas”, a Grade-IV employee of Railways has been chargesheeted with an explanation sought for breaching protocols by using his private family car to report to office.
The matter relates to a Gateman (name withheld) posted near the Hapur Railway Station (Ghaziabad), a few kilometers from the national Capital. The employee uses his private car to report to his place of work during late evenings or nights. But the poor Gateman has been conveyed that his reporting on duty in a car is totally against protocols laid down by Indian Railways and hence, this relates to ‘dereliction’ of duty as per railway employment conduct. The Gateman earned ire of his seniors after they were on an inspection and ostensibly took offence as their junior was using a car on duty and termed it a case of ‘insubordination’. All efforts to contact gateman and officials for their response and comments till late evening proved futile. “You were on duty 23/24 July and the Principal Engineer arrived on inspection at the P-Way Hapur.
When the officers belonging to the Northern Railway noticed a Maruti car parked a few meters away they were inquisitive about the owners. Upon their on-spot inquiry the Gateman himself conveyed to the inspecting officers that it belonged to him.
This is pure violation of the service conduct as you as a Gateman cannot report to duty hours in a car as it is against the protocol. It also amounts to total dereliction of duty and that you have flouted Railway Administrative Service Act 1968, para 2, clause I and II,” says the show-cause notice in Hindi issued by Senior Section Engineer (P.Way), Northern Railway, Hapur.
When contacted on the rules, a senior railway official explained clauses of statute mentioned are Railway Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1968. They are quoted while chargesheeting railway servants. The clause and subsection mentions that every railway servant shall at all times—(i) maintain absolute integrity; (ii) maintain devotion to duty; (iii) do nothing which is unbecoming of a railway servant.