CUTTACK, India, May 26 -- Orissa High Court issued the following order on April 24:
1. Union Government & its officials are knocking at the doors of the Writ Court for assailing the Cuttack Central Administrative Tribunal's order dated 26.07.2024 whereby OP-employee's OA No.260/00067 of 2021, relief has been accorded to him vide paragraph 7 thereof, which has the following texts:
"On examination of the facts and issues involved in this case vis a vis the case law referred to above, we do not find any ground to defer from the view already taken by CAT, PB, New Delhi that since the applicant in the instant OA while under suspension was allowed to retire by the respondents on attaining the age of superannuation without any objection and without any initiation of departmental proceedings, the order of his suspension automatically spends its force/becomes redundant/ceased to exist, resultantly, entitling him to pay and other allowances for the period of suspension as if spent in duty. Hence, the respondents are directed to pay the applicant his salary and allowances w.e.f. his date of suspension till his retirement of course minus subsistence allowance already paid to him within a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of a copy of this order."
2. After service of notice, the OP-employee, having entered appearance through his counsel, resisted the Petition making submission in justification of the impugned order and the reasons on which it has been constructed. He very fairly submits that, although pleadings in the OA were structured in a particular way, the Tribunal treated it a bit differently and granted relief in the fact matrix of the case and therefore, this Court should loathe to interfere, the impugned order having brought up a just result. He also drew our attention to certain paragraphs in the Written Submissions of the Petitioners, which according to him become handy for sustaining the impugned order.
3. Having heard learned ASG for the Petitioners and learned counsel for the OP, and having perused the Petition papers keeping in view the Written Submissions, as also relevant of the Rulings cited at the Bar, we grant partial indulgence in the matter as under and for the following reasons:
3.1. The vehement submission of learned ASG that the suspension can overstay the retirement of delinquent employee is bit difficult to countenance and reasons for this are not far to seek: Firstly, suspension ordinarily is resorted to in contemplation or pending a Disciplinary Enquiry or a Criminal Proceeding against an employee so that no prejudice is caused to the Public Administration. Justice M. Rama Jois, in his Services Under the State, Indian Law Institute, 2007 at Page.625, opines as under: "The object of placing a civil servant under suspension is to keep him away from a position where he can interfere with the conduct of the enquiry or tamper with documentary or oral evidence in any manner or where, having regard to the nature of the charges against him, it is felt that it would be unsafe to continue to vest in him the powers of his post. It is for the disciplinary or the competent authority to consider all the facts and circumstances of the case and in its discretion, to place a civil servant under suspension."
*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=A9S7c5LDIsB6RXaCf816x%2BmTo5ReTKwzsoJfTlJbrohqh%2F2SXkJKFLPizGSZZhy5&caseno=WP(C)/10640/2025&cCode=1&cino=ODHC010249792025&state_code=11&appFlag=)
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
