Jamshedpur, Dec. 22: After 10 years of service, six railway police constables found themselves with no jobs, though they were not close to their retirement age.

In 2003, a person infor- med the police department that the appointment of the six constables was made without any formal advert- isement from the office and therefore the recruitment should be declared null and void.

The then deputy inspec- tor-general of rail police Vishwanath Ojha terminated the service of all the six constables.

One of the constables Deepak Kumar Sinha said in 1993 they were recruited after the then deputy inspector-general (DIG) of rail police (Ranchi zone) R.K. Kataria conducted a fitness test.

They were given the appointment letter and posted at different places under government railway police in Jharkhand.

The same year, Jharkhand police had terminated 12 constables from service as there were some discrepancy in their appointment.

According to Sinha, all the constables knocked on the door of Jharkhand High Court, which in July 2003 asked the railway police authorities (Ranchi zone) and the director-general of police, Jharkhand, to reinstate the 18 constables.

In the order sheet, a copy of which is available with The Telegraph, the high court ordered that the police cons- tables had served in the department for eight or more years, their appointment cannot be terminated due to some irregularities in the appointment process.

The high court had asked the authorities concerned to quash the order of dismissal of the constables.

Sinha said the state police re-instated the 12 constables honouring the high court order but the railway police authorities did not follow it. Instead, Ojha appealed to the apex court.

“But as our financial condition is bad, we failed to contest the case in the Supreme court,” said the harried constable.

Sinha said apprehending that the railway police may not re-instate them, they met chief minister Shibu Soren two months ago.

“The chief minister immediately ordered for our re- instatement but it was not followed. Unable to carry on with this long fight one of the terminated constable Sawraj Mehta hanged himself on December 19 in Hazaribagh. We want justice soon,” said Sinha.

Present DIG railway (Ranchi zone) Sidhu Hembram said the six constables who had been terminated from their service have lost the case in the apex court.

“As far as I know the six constables have lost the legal battle at the apex court so there is no question of re-instatement of them,” said Hembram.