Madras High Court
The Secretary To Government vs G.Palanisamy on 10 August, 2021
W.A. No.554 of 2021 and
C.M.P. No.2211 of 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 10.08.2021
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE Mrs. JUSTICE PUSHPA SATHYANARAYANA
and
THE HONOURABLE Mr.JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY
W.A.No.554 of 2021 and C.M.P. No.2211 of 2021
1.The Secretary to Government
Home (Pol.V) Department
Fort St. George
Chennai - 9
2.The Director General of Police
Chennai - 4 ... Appellants
Vs.
G.Palanisamy ...Respondent
PRAYER : Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent
against the order dated 22.11.2011 passed in W.P. No.5919 of
2007.
For Appellants : Mr.R.Neelakandan
State Government Counsel
For Respondent : Mr.S.Vediappan
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JUDGMENT
PUSHPA SATHYANARAYANA, J.
The Government has filed this intra-court appeal against the
order of the writ court dated 22.11.2011 passed in W.P. No.5919 of
2007, which was originally filed as O.A. No.4224 of 2002 on the file
of the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal, Chennai and the same
has been transferred to this court on abolition of the Tamil Nadu
Administrative Tribunal.
2. The said writ petition, after hearing both the parties, was
disposed of on 22.11.2011, directing the first appellant herein to
include the name of the petitioner in the panel of Superintendents
fit for promotion to the post of Personal Assistant (Administration)
drawn for the year 2001-2002 in G.O. D. No.642 at an appropriate
place and to promote him notionally from the date on which his
immediate juniors were promoted, and further directed the first
appellant herein to send proposals of revised pension to the
Accountant General of Tamil Nadu, in a time bound manner.
Aggrieved by the said order, the Government is on appeal.
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3. The respondent herein joined Police service as Typist on
20.10.1968 and was promoted as Assistant in the year 1977. Later
he became Superintendent on 01.02.1989. He was due for
promotion as Personal Assistant (Administration) for the year 2001-
2002 as per the seniority list of superintendents, drawn by the
second appellant in his Memorandum dated 31.5.1999. The
respondent's seniority was assigned at Sl. No.371. The first
appellant herein had published the panel of Superintendents on
23.05.2002, who are fit for promotion as Personal Assistant
(Administration) by recruitment by transfer. Unfortunately, the
respondent's name was not included in the list though names of his
juniors were included.
4. In this regard, it is to be noted that the crucial date for
drawing the panel was 01.09.2000 and on the date of promotion,
namely the publication of the list on 03.06.2002, the respondent
claimed that no punishment or charge was pending under Rule
17(b) or 17(a) nor any charge sheet was filed before any criminal
court, to deny him promotion.
5. However, it is admitted that when he was working as a
Superintendent, there were certain irregularities in the settlement of
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fuel bills and certain vouchers were found missing. A case was
registered in Crime No.8/92 against one Gajendran, who is in
charge of the settlement of fuel bills. On 28.06.2000, the
respondent was issued with summons by the learned Judicial
Magistrate II, Cuddalore and on 08.02.2001, he was also included
as accused in C.C. No.200/1997.
6. A criminal revision petition was filed before this court and
an order of stay was obtained on 28.06.2001. In the criminal
revision, it has been mentioned that the occurrence of the incident
was between 1.1.1989 and 22.2.1992. FIR was registered on
22.02.1992. Final report was filed on 31.3.1997. On 17.04.2000,
the Inspector of Police, has filed a Memo before the learned Judicial
Magistrate II, Cuddalore, for adding the name of the respondent as
an accused. The learned Judicial Magistrate II, Cuddalore, allowed
the Memo by adding the respondent as an accused on 08.02.2001.
Therefore, as on the crucial date for drawing the panel, namely
1.9.2000, amended charge sheet/Memo was pending before the
criminal court.
7. Further, there were 17(b) charges pending against the
respondent for three delinquencies, of which two of them were
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proved after due enquiry, and by an order dated 29.4.2003,
punishment of reduction in time scale of pay by one stage for one
year without cumulative effect, was awarded.
8. Aggrieved by the same, the respondent herein preferred an
appeal before the Additional Director General of Police (Law &
Order), who also confirmed the punishment.
9. From the above facts, it is clear that there was a criminal
case pending against the respondent on the crucial date for drawing
the panel, namely 01.09.2000. The charge-sheet was quashed only
on 03.02.2003. The crucial date for drawal of panel, for
appointment as Personal Assistant (Administration) for the year
2001-02 was 1.9.2000 and the panel period was between 5.3.2001
and 4.3.2002. The check period is between 1.9.1995 and
31.08.2000. Two of the charges, which were proved, were pertain
to the period between April 1992 and March 2003. The punishment
was awarded on 29.04.2003 on the above proved charges. Any
charges framed under Rule 17(b) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services
(Discipline and Appeal) Rules and any punishment, awarded after
the crucial date, but before the actual promotion, also will be held
against the officer. Therefore, though the charge-sheet in the
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criminal case was quashed by this court, he was not eligible for
inclusion in the panel of Superintendents for the year 2001-2002, as
he has been awarded with punishment of pay reduction in the
simultaneous department action under Rule 17(b) subsequently. It
is also settled principle that the departmental action as well as the
criminal proceedings can be simultaneously proceeded with and
orders may be passed by the competent authorities.
10. In the case on hand, though the charge-sheet was
quashed by this court or the charges against the respondent were
proved and allowed to become final, due to which the name of the
respondent could not be included in the promotion panel. In fact,
the learned single Judge has specifically found that the reason for
non inclusion of the name of the petitioner in the panel was that he
was facing a criminal case at the relevant point of time. Merely
because the petitioner was allowed to retire from service and the
criminal charges were quashed in the year 2003, it cannot be stated
that there is no impediment for considering his name for inclusion in
the aforesaid panel.
11. In such circumstances, this court is of the opinion that
during the check in period, there were both criminal case as well as
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departmental proceedings pending and therefore, the appellants
had rightly not included the name of the respondent and he was
allowed to retire after recovering the amount due from him. In such
circumstances, the order of the learned single Judge allowing the
writ petition without considering the same, is liable to be set aside.
12. Accordingly, the writ appeal is allowed. The order of the
learned single Judge dated 22.11.2011 passed in W.P. No.5919 of
2007 is set aside. However, there is no order as to costs.
Consequently, the connected civil miscellaneous petition is closed.
[P.S.N., J.] [K.R., J.]
10.08.2021
Index : Yes / No
Internet : Yes / No
Asr
To
1.The Secretary to Government
Home (Pol.V) Department
Fort St. George
Chennai - 9
2.The Director General of Police
Chennai - 4
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PUSHPA SATHYANARAYANA, J.
AND
KRISHNAN RAMASAMY, J.
Asr
W.A.No.554 of 2021
Date : 10.08.2021
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