50 years later, justice eludes family in Mumbai

For the past 50 years, the Dandekar family has been doing the rounds of courts and filing applications in the hope of justice. But, even after a battle spanning half a century, justice for them appears elusive because government officials have lost all case documents.

Sudhakar Dattatraya Dandekar is fighting the railway board to get his father’s “rightful allowance” after he was forced to retire five years early. “It’s not about the money now. It’s about getting justice and exposing higher authorities who do not want to adhere to the law,” said 75-year-old Dandekar.

Till 1942, Dandekar’s father worked with a private railway company — The Baroda Bombay and Central India Railway. The company, along with many others, was merged to form the Indian Railways.

“Each of these private companies had a different retirement age. Continuing with the tradition, the railways chose not to have a uniform retiring policy,” said Dandekar. “As a member of the ministerial staff, my father’s retirement age was 60, but he was forced to leave at the age of 55. He decided he wouldn’t take the decision without a fight.”

Dandekar said his father died in 1984 at the age of 84. “After his death my mother took up the cause. She too died in 2007. Now, I am pursuing the case,” said Dandekar.

Appalled by the government’s apathy, Dandekar said they had
written over 700 letters, and filed several RTI applications, but the result has not been fruitful. “Very few people, who were forced to retire, were ready to fight for their rights. One person challenged the decision in the Supreme Court which ruled in 1971 that the retirement age of 55 was wrong,” said Dandekar.

However, the court’s decision was not enough for the government. “They cited a limitation clause, which states that if the retirement is not challenged within three years, the railways will not pay us. We had to approach the labour court. There, the lawyers wanted 40% of the claim amount, so we decided to drop the idea,” Dandekar claimed.

“I can see the injustice,” former chief justice of India YV Chandrachud had said on his perusal of the case.

With the help of a few friends, Dandekar approached the central government minister for public grievances who forwarded his complaint to the law department. They took Dandekar’s side and wrote a note that the claim was justified. “But, the railways only gave us the basic pay,” he said, adding that two members of parliament also wrote to the railway minister who assured them that action would be taken.