Court No. - 32
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 15693 of 2018 Petitioner :- Dara Singh And Another Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 6 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sanjay Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Raj Kumar
Hon'ble Shashi Kant Gupta,J. Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.
Today supplementary counter affidavit has been filed, which is taken on record.
Rejoinder affidavit has also been filed by the learned counsel for the petitioner.
Learned counsel for the petitioner does not propose to file any supplementary rejoinder affidavit to the supplementary rejoinder affidavit filed today.
This writ petition has been, inter alia, filed for the following reliefs;
(i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus Commanding the respondent no. 7 pursuant to order dated 05.12.2017 (Annexure no. 3) of the respondent no. 2, in terms of Rule-4 of "The Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats And Zila Panchayats (Removal of Pramukhs, Up-Pramukhs, Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas) Enquiry Rules 1997", and conclude the enquiry expeditiously within time bound period, as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case."
The petitioners made a complaint on 17.11.2017 against the Adhyaksha Zila Panchyat, Allahabad (Respondent No. 7) to the Respondent No. 1 in accordance with Rule 3 of The Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats And Zila Panchayats (Removal of Pramukhs, Up-Pramukhs, Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas) Enquiry Rules 1997 making allegations of huge financial embezzlements of public funds by the Respondent No. 7 by misusing her power and post adopting different modus operandi. On receiving the aforesaid complaints dated 17.11.2017, the State Government issued an order/direction dated 5.12.2017 to the District Magistrate Allahabad (Respondent No. 4) to conduct an enquiry relating to the allegations levelled against the Respondent No. 7 as mentioned in the affidavits/complaints of the petitioners in terms of Rule 4 of The Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats And Zila Panchayats (Removal of Pramukhs, Up-Pramukhs, Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas) Enquiry Rules 1997. The State Government in the order dated 5.12.2017 has also directed the District Magistrate, Allahabad to submit the enquiry report in the matter to the State Government within 15 days but the District Magistrate did not submit his enquiry report on the complaint made by the petitioner dated 17.11.2017.
For ready reference, Rule 4 of The Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats And Zila Panchayats (Removal of Pramukhs, Up- Pramukhs, Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas) Enquiry Rules 1997 is quoted hereinbelow;
"4. Preliminary enquiry.- (1) The State Government may, on the receipt of a complaint referred to in Rule 3 or otherwise appoint an officer not below the rank of an Additional District Magistrate in the case of a Pramukh or Up-Pramukh and District Magistrate in the case of an Adhyaksha or Upadhyaksha to conduct a preliminary enquiry with a view to finding out if there is a prima facie case for a formal enquiry in the matter.
(2) The Officer appointed under sub-rule (1) shall conduct the preliminary enquiry as expeditiously as possible and submit his report to the State Government within a fortnight of his having been so appointed."
The aforesaid Rule clearly provides that the State Government after receiving the complaint as referred in Rule 4 may appoint an officer not below the rank of District Magistrate in case of an Adhyaksha or Updhyaksha to conduct a preliminary enquiry in the matter. Further Rule 4 (2) provides that the officer appointed under sub-rule (1) shall conduct the preliminary enquiry as expeditiously as possible and submit his report to the State Government within a fortnight. It has been provided in Rule 5 that where the State Government is of the opinion on the basis of the report referred to in sub-rule (2) of Rule 4 that an enquiry should be held against a Pramukh or Up-Pramukh under Section 16 or against an Adhyaksha or Upadhyaksha under Section 29, it shall, by an order, appoint an officer to hold the enqiury, who shall not be below the rank of the District Magistrate in the case of an enquiry under 16, and not below the rank of a Commissioner in the case of the an enquiry under Section 29.
A perusal of the record clearly shows that Respondent No. 2 by letter dated 5.12.2017 has merely directed the District Magistrate, Allahabad to hold a preliminary enquiry as provided under Rule 4 The Uttar Pradesh Kshettra Panchayats And Zila Panchayats (Removal of Pramukhs, Up-Pramukhs, Adhyakshas and Upadhyakshas) Enquiry Rules 1997.
Learned Counsel for the petitioner has stated that the order/direction dated 5.12.2017 for conducting preliminary enquiry was passed on 5.12.2017 and since then nearly 10 months have passed but still no enquiry has been conducted by the District Magistrate and the matter is still lingering on, as such, a direction may be issued to the District Magistrate to conclude the enquiry expeditiously within a time bound period.
Sri Rajkumar, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Respondent No. 7 has vehemently opposed the prayer made by the learned counsel for the petitioners.
Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
A perusal of the record clearly shows that the complaint has been filed by the petitioners and an order/direction has been issued way back on 5.12.2017 by the State Government, Respondent No. 2 to District Magistrate for conducting the preliminary enquiry in the matter but no enquiry has been conducted till date despite the lapse of nearly 10 months. The authority concerned cannot be permitted to linger on the matter ad infinitum. The matter has to reach to its logical conclusion one way or the other.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Respondent No. 4, District Magistrate, Allahabad is directed to conclude the preliminary enquiry as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law preferably within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order provided the preliminary enquiry is not yet over.
With this observation, this writ petition stands disposed of.
Order Date :- 20.9.2018 vinay