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2025 DIGILAW 17 (RAJ)

Neeraj Kumar Gupta S/o Shri Dhurendra Kumar Gupta v. State of Rajasthan

2025-01-03

FARJAND ALI

body2025
ORDER : 1. The instant writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India have been preferred by the petitioner being aggrieved by the actions of the respondents for suspending the petitioner, restraining him to withdraw salary and also for issuing the charge sheet against him. 2. Brief facts of the case are that he was working as a school Lecturer at Government Senior Secondary School, Rol. The petitioner purchased a plot from Himmat Ram vide registered sale deed 21.05.2005, which was alloted to Himmat Ram on 08.07.2000 and granted the permission for construction of house. One Purna Ram challenged the order of Municipal Board by way of revision petition which was allowed vide order dated 26.02.2008 and ordered for passing a fresh order. Petitioner being unaware of the order passed on 26.02.2008, sold the said property to one Hari Ram vide registered sale deed dated 26.02.2008. 3. Thereafter, one Mahaveer Singh lodged an FIR against Hari Ram, Pokar Ram, Haji Gujar bearing FIR No. 374/2016 before the SHO, P.S. Kotwali, Nagaur. In the FIR, no allegations were made against the petitioner. However, subsequently the investigating officer called the petitioner for submitting the documents and when he went to the office of SOG Ajmer on 26.07.2022, he was arrested thereafter and released on bail on 05.08.2022. After releasing on bail, he submitted an application before the Principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Rol on 26.08.2022 for joining back on his duty. Further, the District Education Officer, Secondary Education Headquarter, Nagaur passed an order dated 08.08.2022 whereby he was permitted to join back his duty but his salary was stopped. The patta issued in favour of Himmat Ram was found genuine and committee has granted permission to Hari Ram to construct a house. 4. The petitioner being aggrieved of the FIR lodged against him preferred a Criminal Misc. petition No. 7543/2022, in which the Court vide order dated 16.11.2022 has restrained the investigating officer from filing the charge sheet. Further, being aggrieved of the order dated 08.08.2022 preferred a civil writ petition No. 9529/2023, whereby this Court has passed an interim order on 18.09.2023 and the operative part of the order dated 08.08.2022 has been stayed. Then, the petitioner submitted an interim order dated 18.09.2023 of this Court to the respondent authorities and the Director, Secondary Education, Bikaner suspended the petitioner vide order dated 29.09.2023. Then, the petitioner submitted an interim order dated 18.09.2023 of this Court to the respondent authorities and the Director, Secondary Education, Bikaner suspended the petitioner vide order dated 29.09.2023. The petitioner challenged the same in SBCWP No. 15959/2023 on the ground that he cannot be suspended only on the basis of arrest after delay of 1 year. This Court vide order dated 16.10.2023 stayed the effect and operation of order dated 29.09.2023. The respondent No.2 issued the charge sheet to the petitioner on 01.03.2024 with two charges and being aggrieved by that the present writ petition has been filed. 5. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned counsel for the respondents and perused the material placed on record. 6. After perusing the record and pondering upon the submissions and materials made available to the Court, prima facie, it is revealed that the petitioner was arrested for the offence under Sections 193, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477-A, 409 and 120-B of IPC which was of a private nature related to a personal transaction. Then, he was released on bail and also informed the respondents regarding the state of affair. The District Education Officer, Secondary Education Headquarter, Nagaur passed an order dated 08.08.2022 whereby he was permitted to join his duty but his salary was stopped. Interestingly, till then no other proceedings were initiated against him and miffed by the legitimate action taken by the petitioner by approaching the High Court, the petitioner was suspended. The suspension was challenged by the petitioner and it has been stayed. Afterwards, the charge-sheet was served to the petitioner. 7. This Court is of the considerate view that the malice is apparent and the FIR was of a private transaction and not related to his official work, so stopping his salary, suspending him on the basis of FIR of personal nature and giving him chargesheet were all showing the malice clearly. The principle of presumption of innocence should be taken into consideration while looking into the facts of the case as he is innocent until proven guilty. A look on the criminal case is revealing that the petitioner was a buyer of the property and maybe he was a bonafide purchaser but this Court is refraining from commenting on the same. 8. A look on the criminal case is revealing that the petitioner was a buyer of the property and maybe he was a bonafide purchaser but this Court is refraining from commenting on the same. 8. This Court has discussed the issue involved in this case related to suspension of an employee for an alleged act not related to his official duty in the case of Prakash Mali v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. [S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 14688/2024] decided on 22.10.2024. It has been discussed that the alleged act or misconduct was of trivial nature and was related to the previous place of posting and was not related to his current posting, so suspending an employee without giving any valid reasons appears to be unwarranted and punitive in nature rather than preventive or corrective. 9. After going through the averments made in all writ petitions and going through the niceties of the case, more particularly, the sequence of events, this Court feels that the actions taken against the petitioner were fully tended with malice. When an interim order was passed in the first writ petition, miffed of the above, a subsequent action taken and then when the subsequent action was stayed, the another adversarial order got passed. This Court is of the view that the order adverse to the interest of a person or an employee can only be passed in accordance with the procedure established by law and the process has to be fair, reasonable and supportive to the law and justice; an employee cannot be allowed to be persecuted owing to personal grudge or annoyance of a superior officer. The circumstances apprising in this case making it abundantly clear that the actions taken against the petitioner were not reasonable, fair and justifiable rather it was passed with an ulterior intent. I am of the view that unreasonable and unjustifiable order cannot be allowed to be sustainable in eyes of law and the same cannot be countenanced by this Court. 10. Accordingly, in view of the discussion made herein above, the writ petitions are allowed in the following terms:- A) The impugned communication dated 04.03.2024 along with charge sheet dated 01.03.2024 are hereby quashed and set aside to the extent it relates initiation of disciplinary proceeding against the petitioner on the basis of lodging of the FIR and stopping of promotions on the basis of said charge sheet. B) The impugned order dated 08.08.2022 passed by the Chief District Education Officer, Headquarter Secondary Education, Nagaur is hereby quashed and set aside to the extent of restraining the petitioner from withdrawing the salary and the respondent authority is directed to release the salary of the petitioner due from 26.07.2022 and permit him to withdraw his salary month by month. C) The impugned order dated 29.09.2023 passed by the Director, Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Bikaner suspending the petitioner is hereby quashed and set aside. the respondents are directed to restore the services of the petitioner on the post of Vice Principal at Shri Ghanshyam Das Pappu Ram Inani Govt. Senior Secondary School, Rol, Mundwa, Nagaur. 11. All the stay petitions are disposed of accordingly.