Court No. - 28
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 5790 of 2018 Petitioner :- Dinesh Kumar Sharma Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Suyash Pandey,Nand Lal Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Vinod Kumar Singh
Hon'ble Siddharth,J.
Order on the Amendment Application Application is allowed.
Learned counsel for the petitioner is permitted to carry out the necessary amendment within the course of the day.
Order on the Writ Petition.
Heard Shri Nand Lal Pandey, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of respondent nos. 1,2 and 3 and Shri Vinod Kumar Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent no.4.
Petitioner has approached this Court aggrieved by the suspension order dated 25.1.2018 passed by the respondent no.4 , Committee of Management, Janta Inter College, Kharkhauda, District Meerut.
The arguments of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that on the basis of audit objection regarding irregular payment in the purchase of Chemical etc., for the institution, petitioner was suspended by the order dated 22.8.2017 and inquiry was instituted against him. Since approval of the suspension was not granted within sixty days from the date of the order of the Committee of Management he approached this court by way filing Writ Petition No. 55198 of 2017, which was disposed of by order dated 21.11.2017 directing the District Inspector of Schools, Meerut and Committee of Management to reinstate the petitioner as Principal of the institution and petitioner was directed to cooperate with the disciplinary proceedings pending against him.
In pursuance of the above order of this Court dated 21.11.2017, petitioner has been reinstated in service by order dated 25.11.2017 on the post of Principal and he is working.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that regarding audit objections, the District Audit and Accounts Officer, Meerut disposed of the objections on 30.1.2017 and held that dispute of audit objection stands removed.
Learned counsel for the petitioner points out that audit objection, which was removed by the Audit and Accounts Officer, was accepted by the Committee of Management by resolution dated 21.2.2017.However petitioner was suspended on 22.8.2017 and charge no.6 framed therein is regarding the same audit objection which was set aside by the Audit and Account Officer and accepted by the Committee of Management by resolution dated 21.2.2017. Regarding charge no.6 and other charges, the disciplinary inquiry is pending and has not been concluded as yet.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has pointed out that a member of the Committee of Management has filed application under section 156(3) Cr.P.C. before the Magistrate concerned and criminal case under Sections 408 and 420 I.P.C. has been registered against him in pursuance of the order of the Magistrate.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has further argued that disciplinary inquiry is pending against the petitioner regarding the same charges since February 2017 and First Information Report has been lodged in pursuance of the order dated 20.1.2018 regarding same charges on 24.1.2018. The argument is that impugned suspension order is malafide and passed on the basis of criminal proceedings initiated by the member of the Committee of Management which is illegal. Only Secretary of the Committee of Management is competent to initiate any legal proceedings against the petitioner and not any ordinary member of the Committee of Management.
Shri Vinod Kumar Singh, learned counsel for the respondent no.4 has relied upon the judgement of Govind Swarup Pandey Vs. The Authorised Controller, Adarsh Inter College, Manikpur, Banda and another, 1981 UPLBEC, 17 and argued that against the impugned suspension order petitioner has alternative remedy under section 16-G(7) of U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921 and petitioner should exhaust the same before approaching this Court.
It is clear from the facts and documents on record that impugned order of suspension has not been passed on the basis of any subsequent event of misconduct after initiation of earlier proceedings by the Committee of Management. The inquiry is already under progress and has not been concluded despite the order of this Court dated 21.11.2017.
The suspension order is based only on the First Information Report lodged against the petitioner in pursuance of the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Meerut under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C.Therefore it is clear that suspension order has been passed after creating grounds by way of proceedings under section 156(3) Cr.P.C.
In view of the above facts the impugned suspension order dated 25.1.2018 passed by the respondent no.4 shall be kept in abeyance till the conclusion of the disciplinary inquiry against the petitioner.
The writ petition stands disposed of finally with the aforesaid direction.
Order Date :- 28.2.2018 Atul kr. sri.