Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Chief E. Sreedharan has won a six-year-old battle with the Centre relating to the monthly “illegal deduction” of Rs 4,000 from his salary as Chairman and Managing Director of the Konkan Railway Corporation. Sreedharan retired form the Konkan Railway in 1997 and after that he joined the DMRC.

 

The case was with the Delhi High Court which ruled in Sreedharan’s favour on Monday (8^th December) and made him richer by approximately Rs 7 lakh. However more than the amount, what was at stake for Sreedharan was his prestige. After all, following the deduction, his salary was lesser than half of that of Konkan rail executives. The centre has also been asked to pay him Rs 30,000 as “cost” of the legal battle. The case was filed by Sreedharan in his personal capacity.

 

After retiring from the Indian railways in 1990, Sreedharan joined Konkan Railway on a pay scale of Rs 9,000-10,000 for a period of five years. But without his knowledge, Rs 4,000, which he was receiving as pension after retirement from railways, was deducted from his salary on the grounds that it was a “re-employment under the central government” and therefore he was not entitled to get pension.

Sreedharan’s lawyer Tarun Johri told the court if Rs 4,000 was deducted from his pay at its lowest limit of Rs 9,000, his client was left with less than 1,200 a month after deducting provident fund, house rent, car conveyance and income tax. Sreedharan’s point was how the CEO of a PSU can take home a salary of Rs 1,080?