R.S.J L Daniel v. Alok Kumar, I.A.S. and 3 Ors

ORDER Date : 02/08/2023

None appears for the petitioner on call. Mr. B. Choudhury, learned counsel for the respondent.

¶2This contempt petition has been filed by the petitioner alleging willful and deliberate disobedience of the directions contained in the order dated

13.03.2019 passed in WP(C) No. 1604/2019.

¶3By the said order the writ petition was disposed of as under:- "13.03.2019 Heard Mr. SS Talukdar, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D Nath, learned Govt. Advocate, Assam for respondent No.1, Mr. B Choudhury, learned counsel for respondent Nos.2 and 3 and Mr. A Hasan, learned counsel for respondent No.4.

¶2Grievance of the petitioner is that though the authorities had initiated certain departmental enquiry against him as far back in the year 2012, there is no end at sight. After conclusion of the proceedings by the enquiry officer and after copy of the enquiry report had been furnished to the petitioner, to which the petitioner had submitted his representation twice, the authorities have not taken any decision in Page No.# 3/4 this regard to conclude the enquiry.

¶3A departmental enquiry comes to an end only when the disciplinary authority passes the final order. In the present case, the disciplinary authority has not passed any final order either exonerating by making the petitioner liable for any misconduct or charge made against him, thus, keeping the matter hanging, which according to the petitioner is not permissible.

¶4There is force in the submission advanced. Prolonged continuation or non-conclusion of an enquiry results in various disadvantages to an employee including non-receipt of full wages, non-consideration for promotion to the higher post etc. Therefore, if the authorities had concluded the enquiry, there is no reason why the authority should sit over the enquiry. More so, after the petitioner had already submitted his representations against the findings of the enquiry report.

¶5Accordingly, the present petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondent authority, more particularly, the disciplinary authority to consider and act upon the report of the enquiry officer along with the representations that had been submitted by the petitioner and pass appropriate final order in this regard within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.

¶6If the aforesaid final order is not passed by the competent authority as indicated above, it will be deemed that the authorities are not keen to pursue the departmental enquiry in which event the departmental enquiry shall be deemed to have been closed and the petitioner will be entitled to all consequential benefits as if there was no departmental proceeding against him.

¶7With the above observations and direction, this petition stands disposed of."

¶4The contempt petition was filed alleging wilful and deliberate violation of the order dated 13.03.2019 passed in WP(C) No.1604/2019. Inspite of representations furnished, the directions of the learned single judge had not Page No.# 4/4 been complied with.

¶5Mr. B. Choudhury, learned counsel appearing for the respondents submits that being aggrieved by the said order, a writ appeal was preferred being W.A. No. 58/2020 and during the course of the hearing before the Division Bench it was revealed that pursuant to the orders passed by the learned single Judge, the enquiry was completed and the Disciplinary authority had accepted the findings of the enquiry officer and had thereupon proceeded to compulsorily retire the petitioner by imposing penalty under Rule 7 of the Assam Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964. The said order was also endorsed by the Assam Public Service Commission. In view of the order passed by the Disciplinary authority, the Writ Appeal was accordingly disposed of. Considering the directions passed in W.A. No. 58/2020, no further order needs to the passed in the present contempt petition.

¶6In view of such orders being passed by the Division Bench, the directions contained in the order dated 13.03.2019 passed in WP(C) No. 1604/2019 will have to be accepted to be complied with.

¶7This contempt petition is accordingly closed.

¶8Notices issued are re-called.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010141592019 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oCont.Cas(C)/354/2019o R.S.JoLoDANIELo D/OoLATEoLoDANIEL,oR/O.o7BoANANDoKUNJoAPARTMENT,oZOOoNARENGIo ROAD,o9oNEARoGITAoNAGARoPOLICEoSTATION),oGUWAHATI,oDISTRICT-o KAMRUP(M),oASSAM,oPIN-o781021. VERSUSo ALOKoKUMAR,oI.A.S.oANDo3oORS.o THEoCHIEFoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,oDISPUR,o GUWAHATI-06. 2:NITINoKUMARoSHIVDASoKHADE oI.A.S. oTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oFINANCEo(TAXATION)oDEPARTMENT oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006 oASSAM. 3:ANURAGoGOEL oI.A.S. oTHEoCOMMISSIONERoOFoTAXES oASSAM oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006 oASSAM. 4:ABDULoROUF o(IAoANDoAS) o(B.E. oCHEMICALoENGINEERING) oTHEoACCOUNTANToGENERALo(oAoANDoE) Page No.# 2/4 ASSAM MOIDAMGAON BELTOLA GUWAHATI- 781029 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR S S TALUKDAR Advocate for the Respondent : MR. D SAIKIA BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA