Overview
- The Supreme Court set aside the Bombay High Court’s 2017 judgment and effectively restored the Central Administrative Tribunal’s 2002 relief.
- Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra held the charges unproven due to evidence gaps, including one unexamined passenger and two who did not support the bribery allegation.
- The Railways must release all consequential monetary and pensionary benefits to the deceased employee’s legal heirs within three months.
- The proceedings stemmed from a May 31, 1988 vigilance check on a Central Railway TTE at Nagpur that alleged a Rs 50 bribe, Rs 1,254 in excess cash, and a duty-card irregularity.
- The employee died during the long litigation, so the ruling clears his record posthumously and provides financial relief to his family.