Manipur High Court: A Bench of Lanusungkum Jamir, J. set aside petitioner’s suspension order and held him to be entitled to full back wages from the date of suspension.
The petitioner was a peon in Chandel Treasury under Finance Department, Government of Manipur. While in service, he was convicted in a criminal case and sentenced to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment. Subsequently, the Director, Treasuries and Accounts, Manipur issued an order suspending him under sub-rule (2)(a) of Rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings. Also, the petitioner was not paid even subsistence allowance since the date o his suspension. The present petition was filed in 2013 and till date, no counter affidavit was filed by the State.
The High Court noted that the suspicion order in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner was issued in view of his conviction as mentioned above. However, no disciplinary proceedings were initiated till date. The Court relied on Union of India v. Tulsiram Patel, (1985) 3 SCC 398 and observed, “It is also a settled principle of law that the conviction on criminal charge does not automatically entail dismissal, removal or reduction in the rank of the concerned Government servant.” It was noted that the petitioner was lingering in the state of suspension for 15 years and that too without any subsistence allowance. Opining that the State could not be permitted to treat the petitioner in such manner, the Court set aside the suspension order. The petitioner was held entitled to full back wages from the date of his suspension along with all consequential service benefits. [L. Ango Anal v. State of Manipur, 2018 SCC OnLine Mani 180, Order dated 13-12-2018]
