HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE KONGARA VIJAYA LAKSHMI
Writ Petition No.8361 of 2021
ORDER:
This writ petition is filed to 'declare the action of the respondents in not concluding the disciplinary proceedings initiated vide Tribunal Enquiry Case (TEC) No.597 of 2013, as illegal and arbitrary and violation of instructions issued in G.O.Ms.No.679 GA (Ser.C) Department dated 01.11.2008 and consequently to set aside the proceedings in TEC No.597 of 2013 dated 28.09.2018.' Case of the petitioner is that, when he was working as Prohibition & Excise Inspector during December 2011 and January 2012, raids were conducted by the ACB Personnel on almost all the liquor shops in the combined State of Andhra Pradesh and FIRs were registered against several officers of the Prohibition & Excise Department; in the case of the petitioner, the 2nd respondent has issued a charge memo dated 06.10.2015 and some issues were also referred to Tribunal for Disciplinary proceedings (TDP) vide TEC No.597 of 2013; disciplinary case initiated by the department resulted in imposing a punishment of stoppage of two increments without cumulative effect; challenging the same, petitioner filed WP No.20218 of 2020, which is pending; even in the case of TEC No.597 of 2013, no progress has taken place for nearly five years; finally a charge was framed on 28.09.2018, directing the petitioner to appear on 01.11.2018; accordingly, petitioner appeared before the Tribunal and pleaded not guilty; conducting enquiries with inordinate delay has been deprecated by the Apex Court in 'P.V. Mahadevan vs. Tamil Nadu Housing Board1', which was also followed by various High Courts, wherein it was held that 'delay in conducting and 1 (2005) 6 SCC 363 2 concluding the departmental enquiries is arbitrary and illegal. The said judgment was followed by the Apex Court in 'Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs. Prabhash Chandra Mirdha2'; even though seven years have elapsed, the respondents are not taking steps to conclude the departmental proceedings; the respondents ought to have concluded the same within six months in view of G.O.Ms.No.679, GA (Ser.C) Department dated 01.11.2008. Hence, the present writ petition.
Sri Vijaya Kumar Motupalli, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in similar facts and circumstances of the case, this Court in WP No.17867 of 2019 dated 12.11.2019, WP No.7227 of 2020 dated 17.03.2020, in WP No.14465 of 2020 dated 07.09.2020, in WP No.19335 of 2020 dated 21.10.2020 and WP No.24960 of 2020 dated 24.12.2020, a direction was given to the respondents to conclude the enquiry within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order, failing which, the enquiry shall stand closed and the charge memo shall stand quashed. Learned Government Pleader appearing for the respondents does not dispute the same.
In the facts and circumstances of the case, the respondents are directed to conclude the proceedings under Tribunal Enquiry Case (TEC) No.597 of 2013 within a period of three (3) months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, failing which, the enquiry shall stand closed and the charge memo shall stand quashed.
The writ petition is accordingly, disposed of. No order as to costs. Consequently, miscellaneous petitions, if any pending, in this writ petition, shall stand closed.
________________________ KONGARA VIJAYA LAKSHMI, J Date: 19.04.2021 BSS 2 (2012) 11 SCC 565 3 HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE KONGARA VIJAYA LAKSHMI Writ Petition No.8361 of 2021 33 Date: 19.04.2021 BSS