(1)   In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires –

(a)   Appointing Authority:-

‘Appointing Authority‘ in relation to a Railway servant means –

(i)   The authority empowered to make appointments to the Service of which the Railway servant is, for the time being, a member or to the grade of the Service in which the Railway servant is, for the time being, included, or

(ii)  The authority empowered to make appointments to the post which the Railway servant, for the time being holds, or

(iii) The authority which appointed the Railway servant to such Service, grade or post, as the case may be, or

(iv)  Where the Railway servant having been a permanent member of any other Service or having substantively held any other permanent post, has been in continuous employment under the Ministry of Railways, the authority which appointed him to that Service or to any grade in that Service or to that post;

Whichever authority is the highest authority.

[Ref: RBE No.211/2002, No.E(D&A) 2002 RG6-36, 25.11.2002 and, RBE No.119/2015, No.E(D&A)2012 RG6-34, 30.09.2015]

(b) ‘Commission‘ means the Union Public Service Commission (or ‘UPSC’),

(c)   Disciplinary Authority:-

‘Disciplinary Authority‘ means –

(i)    In relation to the imposition of a penalty on a Railway servant, the authority competent, under these rules, to impose on him that penalty;

(ii)   In relation to Rule 9 and clauses (a) and (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 11 in the case of any Gazetted Railway servant, an authority competent to impose any of the penalties specified in Rule 6;

(iii) In relation to Rule 9 in the case of any Non-gazetted Railway servant, an authority competent to impose any of the major penalties specified in Rule 6;

(iv) In relation to clauses (a) and (b) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 11, in the case of a Non-gazetted Railway servant, an authority competent to impose any of the penalties specified in Rule 6.

(d) ‘Head of the department‘ for the purpose of exercising the powers as appointing, disciplinary, appellate or revising authority, means the authority declared to be head of the department in terms of Clause (21) of Rule 103 of Volume I of the Indian Railway Establishment Code (Fifth Edition-1985 / Second Reprint Edition 2003);

(e) ‘Railway servant‘ means a Railway servant as defined in clause (43) of Rule 103 of Volume I of the Indian Railway Establishment Code (Fifth Edition-1985 / Second Reprint Edition 2003) and includes any such Railway servant on foreign service or whose services are temporarily placed at the disposal of any other department of the Central Government or a State Government or a local or other authority;

(f) ‘Service‘ means a service under the Ministry of Railways;

(g) ‘Schedule‘ means a schedule appended to these rules.

(2)   All other words and expressions used but not defined in these rules and defined in the Indian Railways Act, 1890 (9 of 1890) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them under that Act.