Now Reading: Medal-winning railway employee denied promotion for two decades
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Medal-winning railway employee denied promotion for two decades
Rajni Rani, a national-level sportswoman working as a safaiwala (group D employee) in Indian Railways since 2003, has not received an out-of-turn promotion despite winning medals in national events, as mandated by…
The Story in Brief
Rajni Rani, a national-level sportswoman working as a safaiwala (group D employee) in Indian Railways since 2003, has not received an out-of-turn promotion despite winning medals in national events, as mandated by railway policy. She won a bronze medal at the 52nd Northern Railway Athletic Meet in February 2005 and a gold medal at the 44th Senior National Inter-State competition in July 2004.
After a decade of inaction, she moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2016, which dismissed her petition on technical grounds. Her appeal has been pending in the Supreme Court since November 2016. The case, last heard in January 2017, was listed for hearing on August 21 after her counsel sought an urgent hearing before Chief Justice Surya Kant.
The Indian Opinion
Stories like Rajni Rani's feed the easy narrative that government schemes exist only on paper. But the real failure here is not policy, it is administrative inertia and a judiciary that lets petitions gather dust for years. The railway ministry must explain why a medal-winning employee was told one of four events did not count. The Supreme Court must now answer: will a directed promotion in 2024 restore faith?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
