Department and Cadre Specific: Questions and Answers

Yes, but only through the proper procedure. Withholding of privilege passes, privilege ticket orders or both is one of the minor penalties listed in Rule 6 of the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968. Because it is a penalty, it needs a minor penalty memo and a chance to reply before it is imposed. A pass simply refused at the counter without any order is a different problem, and should first be taken up in writing with the personnel branch of your division. See our railway employee page.

Under Railway Board letter RBE 148/2023, request transfers between railways are processed in two cycles each year rather than one at a time. Apply before the cut-off for the cycle and keep proof of the date. You join the new railway at the bottom of seniority in your grade. If your application keeps getting carried over, ask your division in writing for your position and the reason. Check the latest Board letters, since the cycle details are revised.

Not while you are a serving member. The Railway Protection Force is an armed force of the Union, and the Delhi High Court in Union of India v. Kapil Gurjar (16 January 2026) recorded that service disputes of serving RPF members are not heard by the tribunal. After the appeal and revision under the RPF Rules, the remedy is a writ in the High Court. Recruitment disputes of RPF candidates, who are not yet members of the force, can go to the CAT under the same ruling.

No. Metro Railway, Kolkata is a zonal railway of the Indian Railways, so its staff are railway servants under the railway rules, and their service disputes go to the CAT's Kolkata Bench. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is a company jointly owned by the Centre and the Delhi Government, and as far as we know it is not notified under Section 14(2), so DMRC staff usually go to the High Court. Your appointment letter shows which of the two you belong to.

No. IRCTC, RailTel, RVNL, Konkan Railway and similar bodies are companies, separate from the Indian Railways department, and as far as we know none of them has been notified under Section 14(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act. Their employees generally go to the High Court by writ, or to labour forums for workman disputes. Railway staff on deputation to these companies are different: a dispute with the parent railway still goes to the CAT. See our forum map.

Usually the zonal railway, through its General Manager, is the main respondent, along with the divisional officer who passed the order. The Railway Board, through its Chairman or the Ministry of Railways, is added when you challenge a Board letter or policy itself, or when only the Board can grant the relief. Leaving out the authority that can actually comply leads to delay later. Advocate B.K. Singh usually checks whether the impugned order merely follows a Board letter, because then the letter itself may need to be challenged.

Start with the Railway Recruitment Cell or the division that conducted the General Departmental Competitive Examination. Write to them with your roll number and ask for your marks, the cut-off for your category and the reason for leaving you out, and file an RTI application side by side. Common causes are a wrong category, a medical standard issue or a mistake in the eligibility date. If the reply is unconvincing, the CAT bench for your division can examine the selection, provided you act before the panel is fully used.

It is a request transfer of a postal official from one circle or unit to another under Rule 38 of the Postal Manual Volume IV. Being a request move, it carries no transfer TA, and you join at the bottom of the gradation list in the new unit. It needs consent from both units and a suitable vacancy at the other end. Many applications wait for years, so ask for your position on the list once a year and keep your application alive. See our page on postal and GDS cases.

The Gramin Dak Sevaks (Conduct and Engagement) Rules, 2020. They set out the duties, penalties, inquiry procedure and appeal for Sevaks, separately from the CCS (CCA) Rules that apply to regular departmental staff. A Sevak still holds a civil post for the tribunal's purposes, so an order under these rules can be taken to the CAT once the appeal is decided or kept pending too long. Read the 2020 rules rather than older circulars issued under the 2011 rules, which many offices still quote.

No, if you are on the bank's own rolls. India Post Payments Bank is a company owned by the Department of Posts, and its directly recruited staff are company employees who generally go to the High Court. Postal staff and GDS who do IPPB work as part of their post office duties remain departmental employees, so their disputes still go to the CAT. Your salary slip shows who actually pays you, and that usually settles the forum.

Object in writing within the window, if one was announced, and ask for your marks and the final key under RTI. Postal departmental examinations follow notifications that fix the syllabus and qualifying marks, so compare each disputed question with that notification and the standard textbook answer. If the department refuses to correct a clear error, the CAT can examine it, although tribunals generally defer to the paper setters unless the mistake is obvious. See our note on postal exam disputes.

Usually the Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, the authority that passed the order, and the headquarters that controls your cadre, such as the relevant Army HQ directorate or Command. Naming only your local unit is a common mistake and causes delay when the unit says it has no power to act. For pay or pension disputes, add the defence accounts office concerned. Advocate B.K. Singh reads the signature block of the impugned order first, because it shows on whose behalf the order was really passed.

No. Staff of the Canteen Stores Department's own depots are generally treated as civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence, so their service disputes go to the CAT. Unit-run canteens are run by individual units from non-public funds, and whether their staff are government servants is a question the Supreme Court has referred to a larger bench (Union of India v. Vinod Kumar, 2023). Check which of the two issued your appointment letter. See unit-run canteen staff.

Generally no. Officers of the Military Nursing Service hold commissions linked to the armed forces, and their service disputes go to the Armed Forces Tribunal. Nurses appointed to civilian posts in military or defence hospitals are different: they are defence civilians and go to the CAT. Look at your appointment letter. Whether you were commissioned or appointed to a civil post decides the forum, and filing in the wrong one wastes months.

Often yes, if the punishment falls outside the period the rules look at. Delhi Police promotions are governed by the Delhi Police (Promotion and Confirmation) Rules, 1980, which examine the service record over a set span of years and treat major and minor punishments differently. A punishment from long ago, or one already set aside in appeal, should not keep you off the list. Ask for the DPC proceedings and the criteria used. See our Delhi Police page.

Not as such. Sending a Delhi Police officer to the lines is treated as an administrative step, and it is not among the punishments in the Delhi Police (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1980. It should still be backed by an order, and if it drags on for months with no enquiry it can hurt your postings and your place on promotion lists. Ask for the order in writing. If a departmental enquiry follows, the enquiry rules apply from that point, and that is where the real defence work begins.

A probationer can be discharged without a full enquiry if the order is a simple one based on overall unsuitability. But if the real reason is a specific allegation of misconduct, the discharge is punitive in substance, and the enquiry procedure should have been followed. The tribunal looks behind the one-line order at the file. Get the file noting under RTI before deciding what to argue. See probationer discharge for how the test works.

The Services Department of the Delhi Government is the cadre controlling authority for the Delhi Administration Subordinate Services, so seniority and promotion lists come from there, not from your own department. Object to the tentative list within the time it allows. If the final list is still wrong, the CAT's Principal Bench in Delhi hears the case, with the Services Department joined as a respondent. See our Delhi Government employees page.

As far as we know, no. DTC is a statutory corporation and the Delhi Jal Board a statutory board, and neither appears to have been notified under Section 14(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act. Their employees generally go to the Delhi High Court by writ, or to labour forums for workman disputes. Staff of regular Delhi Government departments, by contrast, go to the Principal Bench. Check the current list before filing. See checking Section 14(2) notifications.

Generally not. Under Section 13CC of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, staff employed on preparing and revising electoral rolls are treated as on deputation to the Election Commission for that period and are under its control and discipline. Refusing can lead to action. You can ask the Electoral Registration Officer in writing for relief on medical or similar genuine grounds, with papers. The same applies to Kendriya Vidyalaya and other central staff given such duty.

Yes. Chandigarh is a Union territory, and its employees hold posts in connection with the Union, so the CAT's Chandigarh Bench hears their cases. Since April 2022, central service conditions have been applied to Chandigarh Administration employees in place of the Punjab rules most had followed, which has led to many fixation and promotion questions. Writs against the bench's orders go to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. See Chandigarh Bench cases.

Yes. After Jammu and Kashmir became a Union territory, its government employees came under the CAT, and since 2020 the Jammu and Srinagar Benches hear their cases, including those from Ladakh. Circuit sittings have been reported at Kargil and Leh. A writ against a bench order goes to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Some J&K universities and bodies were brought under the tribunal in 2024, and that is under challenge, so check first. See the Jammu Bench page.

The CAT's Chennai Bench. Puducherry is a Union territory, and the Chennai Bench has held that service disputes of Puducherry government employees come before it, in a decision of June 2023. A writ against its orders goes to the Madras High Court. Teachers and staff of bodies set up by the Puducherry government as registered societies or corporations may fall outside the tribunal, so check who your employer actually is before filing.

Not always. Andaman and Nicobar Administration employees come under the CAT's Kolkata Bench, which has held circuit sittings at Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), most recently reported in 2025 and 2026. Your case can be listed there or heard by video, depending on the bench's schedule. A writ against the bench's order goes to the Calcutta High Court. Ask the registry about the next circuit dates before planning travel. See the Kolkata Bench page.

Both, in layers. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has its own Education Code and service provisions, and it applies the CCS (CCA), Conduct and Leave rules to its staff, with some special provisions of its own. Where the Code has a specific provision, such as those on teachers' conduct towards students, that applies; otherwise the central rules fill the gap. Ask for the exact provision cited in any order you receive, because the appeal route depends on it.

Generally yes. Navodaya Vidyalayas are residential schools, and NVS terms expect most teaching staff to live on campus and take housemaster and other residential duties by turn. Refusing these duties without permission can lead to a charge. Disputes about who is given them, or about the allowance paid, are service matters for the CAT after a representation to the Regional Office. See our page on KVS and NVS teachers.

Raise it inside the window KVS gives for correcting data, which usually closes before the transfer list is drawn, and keep a screenshot of what you submitted. KVS transfer guidelines award points for factors such as length of stay, disability, spouse posting and hard station service, and a small error can decide who gets displaced. If the window has passed, write to the Regional Office and Headquarters at once with documents. See KVS transfer points.

Not by itself. The agreed list, prepared by the department together with the CBI for officers whose integrity is in doubt, is meant to keep them away from sensitive work and under watch. It is not a penalty, and it is not one of the three grounds for the sealed cover procedure: suspension, a chargesheet issued, or a pending prosecution. Names are supposed to be reviewed regularly. Ask for the review dates; long inclusion with nothing against you can be questioned.

Usually not. CVC instructions require officials in sensitive posts, such as airport customs, to be rotated every few years, so a move after the set period is routine. It becomes a grievance only if the order records an adverse reason, singles you out of turn, or is followed by a cut in pay or allowances. Read the order and the rotation circular together. If you were moved early while others with longer stays remained, ask for the reasons in writing.

Yes, for the Department of Atomic Energy's own units. Scientists and staff of BARC and similar units are central government employees, so they go to the CAT, usually the Mumbai Bench for BARC. DAE's aided institutions, which are registered societies with their own bye-laws, go to the High Court unless notified under Section 14(2). DAE companies like NPCIL are also outside the tribunal. Advocate B.K. Singh asks scientists for their appointment letter first, because it shows who the real employer is.

The CAT's Ernakulam Bench, which covers Kerala. Staff of ISRO centres under the Department of Space are central government employees, and they file at the bench for the state where they are posted. A writ against the bench's order goes to the Kerala High Court. If you have since been transferred to Bengaluru or Sriharikota, the bench may change, so check the cause of action and your present posting before filing. See our page on scientists' cases.

Generally no. IITs and NITs are statutory institutions under their own Acts, and as far as we know they are not notified under Section 14(2). Faculty and staff there file writs in the High Court after the institute's internal remedies. A Kendriya Vidyalaya on an IIT campus is a different case, since its staff belong to KVS and go to the CAT. Check the current notification list before filing. See our page on central institution staff.

For AIIMS New Delhi, the tribunal, because it has long been notified under Section 14(2), so its staff go to the Principal Bench. Sixteen newer AIIMS were reported added by a notification of 13 January 2026 (S.O. 186(E)), which would take their staff to the bench for their state. Confirm your institute's name in that notification before filing. Staff engaged through an outsourcing agency are outside the tribunal either way, since they are not AIIMS employees.

No. Section 2 of the Administrative Tribunals Act keeps the secretarial staff of both Houses of Parliament, and of state legislatures, outside the tribunal. Officers and servants of the Supreme Court and the High Courts are excluded as well. Their disputes go by writ to the High Court, usually the Delhi High Court for Parliament staff, after the internal remedies under their own recruitment and conduct rules are used.

Yes. Section 14 of the Administrative Tribunals Act covers members of the All India Services, so an IAS, IPS or IFS officer's service dispute goes to the CAT even when the order is passed by the state government. The bench is usually the one for the state where the officer is posted. Cadre allocation and inter-cadre disputes also go to the tribunal, often with the DoPT as a respondent. See our note on cadre and empanelment disputes.