Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a petition filed by the Eastern Railway Quasi Employees Union, Asansol, which had sought regularisation of canteen workers and a declaration that the lockout of their workplace was illegal.
The bench of Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) upheld the findings of the Central government Industrial Tribunal that had earlier ruled against the petitioners. The court observed that the employees of the Asansol Railwaymen’s Cooperative Stores Ltd., which operated canteens within Railway premises at Station Road and Hutton Road in Asansol, could not be treated as Railway staff.
The court noted that the cooperative society was an autonomous body registered under the West Bengal Cooperative Societies Act and not recognised as a non-statutory Railway canteen. It held that there was no evidence to establish an employer-employee relationship between the Divisional Railway Manager, Eastern Railway, Asansol, and the workers engaged by the cooperative.
The petitioners had alleged that the Railway authorities forcibly locked the canteen in December 2005 during a relay hunger strike by quasi-workers who were demanding regular employment.
They contended that the action amounted to an illegal lockout and that the canteen functioned for the benefit of Railway employees, thereby entitling its workers to be absorbed in Railway service.
The High Court found that the cooperative never executed any agreement with the Railway administration as required under the Indian Railway Establishment Manual, nor had it amended its bye-laws to provide for Railway supervision. In the absence of such an agreement or formal control, the cooperative did not qualify as a recognised Railway canteen under the rules. The court further observed that the canteen workers were appointed and paid by the cooperative society, not by the Railway administration, and hence their claim of regularisation had no legal basis.
Facilities such as medical benefits or travel passes extended to them were described as complementary welfare measures rather than indicators of service status. Finding no ground to interfere with the Tribunal’s order, the court dismissed the writ petition and vacated all interim directions.