P.K. Gupta vs Director Nehru Memorial Museum & ...
2013 Latest Caselaw 1702 Del

$~R-12
*    IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+      LPA No. 566/2008

       P.K. GUPTA                                            ..... Appellant
                                Through: Mr Sunil Narula with Ms.Deepti
                                Gupta, Advocates

                       VERSUS
       DIRECTOR NEHRU MEMORIAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY
                                                 ..... Respondent
                    Through: Mr. Kailash Vasdev, Senior
                    Advocate with Mr.S.K.Shandilya and
                    Mr.Shreyans, Advocates.
       CORAM:
       HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
       HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V.K. JAIN

                          ORDER

% 15.04.2013

1. The appellant/writ petitioner before us was working as a Photographer with

the respondent and was entrusted with the task of preparing xerox copies for the

Scholars on payment, besides preparing xerox copies for official purposes for

different units of the respondent. The appellant was served with the following

Articles of Charges:-

"Article - 1 Negligence of Duty: It has brought to the notice of authorities that the meters installed in the LPA No. 566/08 page 1 of 6 photocopier machines in the organization showing reading of number of pages photocopied have been tampered with in such a way to show less than actually it should show as per the photocopying work was done. The reading of the said meters which are visible on the top of the machines do not tally with the memory meters which are fitted inside the machines. Shri B.K.Arya, Photographer, who was in charge of the work of photocopying the documents has never intimated to the authorities of this tampering thereby causing to be suspected of his involvement in tampering the meters for personal benefits. Article - 2 The tampering of meters have caused financial loss to the institution. Hence, Shri P.K.Gupta is charged with negligence of duty thereby causing financial loss to the institution.

Article - 3 Non-Realization of money against photocopy work. It has been brought to the notice of authorities that in respect of photocopy work done for the scholars visiting the Library there are cases in which the payment for the photocopy work has not been either realized or deposited LPA No. 566/08 page 2 of 6 with the cashier for the sake of personal benefit, even after carrying out the work thereby causing financial loss to the institution."

2. The Inquiry Officer held the charges to be proved, vide report dated

23.2.2005. Pursuant to the aforesaid report, the Disciplinary Authority, vide order

dated 6.8.2007 imposed penalty of reduction by three stages in the time scale of

pay for a period of three years upon the appellant with directions that he would not

earn increments of pay during the period of penalty and on the expiry of period of

penalty, the reduction would have the effect of postponing the future increments of

pay. The appellant preferred a departmental appeal against the order passed by the

Disciplinary Authority. He also filed WP (C) No.3788/2008 challenging the

penalty imposed upon him. During the pendency of the writ petition, the

departmental appeal filed by him was dismissed by the Appellate Authority on

28.5.2008. The appellant then withdrew WP(C) No.3788/2008 with liberty to

challenge the order passed by the Appellate Authority. Another writ petition being

WP(C) LPA No. 566/08 page 3 of 6 No.5911/2008 was then filed by him challenging the orders passed by the

Disciplinary Authority and the Appellate Authority. The learned Single Judge,

vide impugned order dated 18.8.2008 dismissed the writ petition.

3. Being aggrieved from the dismissal of the writ petition, the appellant is

before us by way of this appeal.

4. We find from a perusal of the writ petition that the orders passed by the

Disciplinary Authority and the Appellate Authority were challenged by the

appellant primarily on two grounds; the first ground being that he had not been

given an opportunity to cross examine the witnesses and the second ground taken

in the writ petition was that there was no evidence to establish the charges served

upon the appellant.

5. We have carefully examined the impugned order dated 18.8.2008. We find

that neither of these two important plea taken by the appellant have been

considered by the learned Single Judge. We also find from a perusal of the inquiry

report that some of the witnesses were actually not produced for the cross

examination. This aspect has

LPA No. 566/08 page 4 of 6 obviously escaped the attention of the learned Single Judge, since he observed that

the appellant was given full opportunity to cross examine the witnesses on behalf

of the department. We also find that there is no consideration of the plea of the

appellant that there was no evidence produced by the department to sustain the

charges against him.

6. In view of the above, we are inclined to set aside the impugned order and

remit the matter back to the learned Single Judge for examining the aforesaid two

pleas of the appellant on the basis of the material available on record.

7. The impugned order dated 18.8.2008 is set aside and the matter is remitted

back to the learned Single Judge for passing an appropriate order after considering

the pleas of the appellant/writ petitioner that (i) he was denied opportunity to cross

examine all the witnesses produced by the department; and (ii) there was no

evidence produced by the department on the basis of which charges against him

can be said to have been established.

The parties are directed to appear before the learned Single Judge on 29th

April, 2013 for direction.

LPA No. 566/08 page 5 of 6 Considering that the writ petition came to be filed about 5 years ago, we

request the learned Single Judge to dispose of the petition, as far as possible,

within three months of the parties appearing before him.

The appeal stands disposed of.

CHIEF JUSTICE

V.K. JAIN, J.

APRIL 15, 2013
ks




LPA No. 566/08                                             page 6 of 6