M. RAMA JOIS, J. ( 1 ) THE petitioner who is a Senior Inspector of Co-operative Societies in the department of Co-operation of the State Governmeat has questioned the legality of an order made by the Dy. Commissioner, DK dist. , by which, he has been placed under suspension. The petition has come up for preliminary hearing, after notice to the respondent. By consent of both the counsel the petition is taken up for final hearing. ( 2 ) R. 10 of the Karnataka Civil Services (CCA) Rules, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules') empowers the appointing authority or any authority to which the appointing authority Is subordinate to place a civil servant under suspension pending departmental inquiry. The said rule also empowers the Government to authorise any officer subordinate to the appointing authority to place a specified class of civil servants under suspension. But so far as the Dy. Commr. of a district is concerned, though he is not the appointing authority for various Class III posts in. different departments of the State Government, a special power is conferred ; vide r. 9 (e) of the Rules, It reads :" (E) any penalties specified in R. 8 may be imposed on a member of the state Civil Services, Class III and IV belonging to any department (other than the Karnataka Judicial Department) by the Dy. Commissioner of the District in which such member is working and an appeal against the order of the Dy. Commissioner under this clause shall lie to the'head of the Department to which such member belongs"the contention of the petitioner is that, though under R. 9 (e) the Dy. Commissioner is empowered to institute disciplinary proceedings against a Class III employee of any department of the State government other than the Judicial department, he had no authority to place the petitioner under suspension under R. 10 of the Rules. ( 3 ) SRI S. V. Narasimhan, learned High court Government Pleader appearing for the respondent submitted that the Dy. Commissioner had been specifically empowered to place Class III and Class IV officials of different departments of the state Government under suspension, vide notfn. dt. 11th Decr. , 1975. A copy of that notification has been produced. It reads : government of Karnataka no. GAD 24 SSR 75 kar. Government Secretariat, vidhana Soudha, Bangalore, dt. 11th Decr. 75. Commissioner had been specifically empowered to place Class III and Class IV officials of different departments of the state Government under suspension, vide notfn. dt. 11th Decr. , 1975. A copy of that notification has been produced. It reads : government of Karnataka no. GAD 24 SSR 75 kar. Government Secretariat, vidhana Soudha, Bangalore, dt. 11th Decr. 75. Notification in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (1) of R. 10 of the Kar. Civil services (CCA) Rules, 1957, the Government of Karnataka hereby empowers the dy. Commissioner of a district, for the purpose of the said rule, in respect of government servants belonging to Class iii and IV service of all State Civil Services except the Karnataka Judicial Ser. vice, working in the district under the immediate administuactive control of any officer who does not have jurisdiction beyond the limits of the district. By order and in the name of the governor of Karnataka sd/ (M. Shankaranarayana) add1. Secry. to Government, GAD". (Underlined (italics) by me) the aforesaid notification no doubt empowers the Dy. Commissioner to place a class III civil servant of the department of co-operation also under suspension. But the power conferred on the Dy. Commr, under the notification is qualified. It states that that power is restricted to Class iii officials working in the district under the immediate administrative control 'of any officer who does rot have jurisdiction beyond the limits of the district. ( 4 ) THEREFORE, the position is that, if the petitioner can be said to be under the immediate administrative control of the Asst. Registrar or Dy. Registrar of the department of Co operation, certainly the notification empowers the Dy. Commissioner to place him under suspension. ( 5 ) SRI B. G. Sridharan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner holds the rank of a Senior inspector of Co operative Societies in the department of Co operation and according to the provisions of the Rules, the Senior inspector comes under the control of the. Registrar and Joint Registrar of the Department and as the registrar has Statewide jurisdiction and the Joint Registrar has division wide jurisdiction, the Dy. Commissioner did not derive any authority under the notification to place the petitioner under suspension. In support of his submission the learned Counsel also produced a posting order given to the petitioner. It reads:office of the Joint Registrar of co-op. Commissioner did not derive any authority under the notification to place the petitioner under suspension. In support of his submission the learned Counsel also produced a posting order given to the petitioner. It reads:office of the Joint Registrar of co-op. Societies, Mysore Divn. , mysore, dt. 28-9-1981. Sub : XXXVI Session Diploma Course in Co op. Banking from 1-7-81 to 22 -9-81 at CTC, Madras reg ref : 1- Order No. EST/8/ent/81-82 dt. 19-6-1981 of the Registrar of cs, Bangalore. 2. Registrar's Order No. EST/12 ent/81 82 dt. 14-7-1982. Order the following officials who have undergone above training and whose services are placed at the disposal of this office, for issue of postings in Mysore division are posted to the places noted tgainst their names in the interest of public service. Si. Name of the official Place/post to no. and designation which he is posted 1) V. M. Shanthaguru- Secretary, siddaiah, Sr. In-LAMPS, Basaspector of CS vanahalli vice vacant post. 2) B. S. Shivalinge-Secretary, gowda, Sr. Inspector LAMPS, Puttur of CS vice Sri P. V. Abdul Rehman already transferred. 3) M. Puttamadaiah,secretary, sr. Inspector of LAMPS, Kalla- cs halla vice vacant post. Separate postings will be issued to Sri r. S. Shetty, Inspector of CS after he reports back from medical leave. Sd/- Joint Regislrar of CS, Mysore". The above order indicates that the Joint registrar is the immediate controlling officer in respect of Senior Inspectors and it was he who posted the petitioner to the post of Secretary LAMPS, Puttur where the petitioner was working immediatly before the Impugned order was made. Learned counsel rightly pointed out that if the petitioner were to be under the control of asst. Registrar or Dy. Registrar, the Joint registrar would have placed the petitioner at the disposal of the Asst Registrar or the Dy. Registrar as the case may be, with a further direction to seek a posting order from them. " ( 6 ) HAVING regard to the entries in the schedule to the Rules and the' aforesaid posting order given by the Joint Registrar, it appears to me that the petitioner being a Senior Inspector of the department of co operation is under the immediate administrative controf of the Joint Registrar whose territorial jurisdiction is wider than the Dakshinu Kannada Dist. and therefore the notification did not empower the Dy. Commissioner to place him under suspension. and therefore the notification did not empower the Dy. Commissioner to place him under suspension. ( 7 ) SRI S. V. Narasimhan learned counsel for the respondent however submitted that the petitioner was under the immediate control of the Dy. Commissioner himself as under Government order dated 8-10-1982 an Integrated Tribal Development Project for the district of Dakshina kannada had been brought into existence and the Dy. Commissioner had been nominated as the Chairman and that the Society where the petitioner is working comes under the control of the Integrated Tribal development Project. The Government order, copy of which is produced at the time of hearing reads :"proceedings of the Government of karnataka (Social Welfare and Labour Department) sub : Tribal Sub Plan -Reconstitution of Project Level Autohrities with people's representatives. GO No. SWL 84 SLP 78 : Bangalore : dt. 8th October 1982. 1. GO No. SWL 162 SLP 77 dated 31 12 1977. 2. Telex Message No. 944/js (TD)/ 78, 'dt. 5-1-78 from the Joint secretary to Government of India, ministry of Home Affairs, New delhi. 3. Letter No DSW/mp/st P. 2/ pr 2/78 79 dt. 24 7 80 from the director of Social Welfare, Bangalore. In GO read at (1) above, sanction was recorded for reconstitution of the Project Level Authorities with official members only in respect of H. D. Kote, Mysore Dist. , Ponnampet, Kodagu Dist. , udipi and Putlur, DK Dist. , Mudigere, cbickmagalur Dist. to review the progress made under Tribal Sub-Plan. In Telex message read at (2) above government of India requests State government to include people's representatives in the Committees of Project level Authorities. The Director of Social Welfare in their letter read at (3) above has sent the the names of official members for reconstitution of Project Level Authority committees in respect of H. D. Kote, ponnampet, Udipi, Puttur and Mudi gere. At the instance of Government of india, the State Government thought of reconstituting the Project Level Authority Committees by including some nonofficial members in each committee. The names of non-official members proposed for each committee are obtained from the Deputy Commissioners concerned through the Director of Social Welfare, bangalore. Order sanction is accorded for reconstitution of the Committee as under : i. II and III x x x x iv. ITDP, Puttur, Dakshina Kannada official Members : 1. Dy. Commissioner, DK Dist. , mangalore-Chairman. Members : 2. Order sanction is accorded for reconstitution of the Committee as under : i. II and III x x x x iv. ITDP, Puttur, Dakshina Kannada official Members : 1. Dy. Commissioner, DK Dist. , mangalore-Chairman. Members : 2. Project Director, DRDS, Mangalore. 3. Dy. Director of Social Welfare (Project), Mysore. 21. Project Co-ordinator, ITDP, puttur-Convenor". Under the aforesaid order a committee has been constituted both with official and non official members and the Dy. Commissioner happens to be the Chairman. The learned counsel submitted that the Society comes under the jurisdiction of the aforesaid Tribal Welfare Committee of which the Dy. Commissioner happens to be the chairman. Even so I am unable to appreciate how the Dy. Commissioner can be regarded as an Officer who has immediate administrative control over the petitioner, who is a Senior Inspector of the department of Co operation and who is, according to the provisions of the Rules and the departmental set up under the immediate administrative control of the Joint Registrar of the Co-operative Societies. ( 8 ) IN the circumstances, I am of the opinion that the notification dt. 11-12-1975 did not confer power on the Dy. Commissioner to place the petitioner under suspension. ( 9 ) FOR the reasons aforesaid, I make the following order; (i) Writ petition is allowed. (ii) The impugned order of suspention Annexure-A, dt. 4-1-1983 is set aside. (iii) The petitioner shall be entitled to all consequential benefits Sowing from the quashing of the order of suspension. (iv) This order does not preclude the competent authority from taking action in accordance with law. (v) Sri S. V. Narasimhan learned High court Government Pleader is permitted to file his memo of apperance on behalf of respondent in four weeks. --- *** --- .