The petition seeks issuance of a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing impugned order dated 08.02.2021 passed by Respondent No.2/Commissioner and Secretary, Revenue Board, Lucknow, which is appended with the petition as Annexure - 1.
The petition also seeks issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing respondent no.2 to reinstate the petitioner in service.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the impugned order dated 08.02.2021 (supra) by which the petitioner has been placed under suspension is illegal and has been passed in mechanical manner and without application of mind. The concerned authorities while passing the impugned order has not considered that on earlier occasion a preliminary inquiry was instituted and concluded, and as per report of the said inquiry report, the petitioner was found not guilty.
Learned counsel has submitted that ground for initiation of detailed inquiry is that the petitioner had passed an order on 29.08.2018 in regard to some property, which property was declared enemy property on 05.09.2018. It is vehemently argued that before passing order dated 05.09.2018, the petitioner was already transferred on 30.08.2018. Therefore, the petitioner is not linked with any act on which the petitioner was placed under suspension.
It is further submitted that order dated 29.08.2018 passed by the petitioner in Succession Case No.201804040103042 (Kanij Fatima v. Hamid Hussain) in respect of Khata No.136, 137, 138, 103 situated at Village Sahanemau, Pargana and Tehsil Akbarpur, Distrcit Ambedkar Nagar has been implemented on 11.09.2018 in the revenue record. Learned counsel has submitted that no case is made out against the petitioner and the suspension order is nothing but has been passed only to harass the petitioner and the petitioner is forced to face the inquiry unnecessarily. The impugned order is arbitrary and illegal, and deserves to be quashed.
Per contra, Shri Ranvijay Singh, learned counsel for the State has vehemently opposed the submissions made by petitioner's counsel and submitted that the impugned suspension order has been passed by the competent authority after considering the entirety of the matter. He has submitted that the petitioner has opportunity to advance each and every argument and placing the facts before the inquiry officer. There is nothing wrong in the impugned suspension order. The petitioner has failed to establish any case for interference by this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The instant petition is devoid of merit and be dismissed in limine.
I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
I have also perused impugned order dated 08.02.2021 (Annexure - 1) and the order dated 29.08.2018 (Annexure - 2) passed by the petitioner.
After perusal of the impugned order passed by respondent no.2, who is admittedly the competent authority, I am of the opinion that the arguments advanced by petitioner's counsel cannot be adjudicated at this stage. The scope of interference by the Court in the order of suspension has been examined by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in a large number of cases and it has been held that it is in the exclusive domain of the competent authority who can always review its order of suspension being an inherent power conferred upon him by the provisions of Section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 and while exercising such a power, the authority can consider the case of an employee for revoking the suspension order.
In view of the above, I do not find any merit in the instant petition. It is accordingly dismissed.
Order Date :- 22.2.2021 nishant/-