By consent, the writ petition is taken up for final disposal.
2. The petitioner, while working as Forester, was trapped by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department, Vellore, for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs.8,000/- from A.Chinnapaiyan of Nellimandhai, for not foisting a case against him. A case was also registered as against the petitioner in Crime No.3/2016 and he was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 24.08.2016 and subsequently, came out on bail. The first respondent, taking into consideration the involvement of the petitioner in the said offence and arrest and judicial custody, placed him under suspension by impugned order dated 29.08.2016. Challenging the same, the petitioner came forward to file this writ petition.
3. Mr.M.R.Jothimanian, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court to the judgment rendered by the Honourable Supreme Court reported in 2015 (7) SCC 591 (Ajay Kumar Choudhary v. Union of India) and would submit that as per the said decision, the suspension order should not extend beyond three months, if within the period, the charge sheet is not served on the delinquent. Therefore, in the absence of the charge memo, the petitioner has to be accommodated in any non-sensitive post and therefore, prays for appropriate orders.
4. Per contra, Mr.N.Inbanathan, learned Government Advocate, on instructions, would submit that the purport of the said judgement has been considered by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government of Tamilnadu and it has also issued instructions in Letter Ms.No.43/N/2015-3 dated 26.04.2016 prescribing certain guidelines and since the petitioner has also submitted a representation for revoking the order of suspension, it may be directed to be disposed of at an early date.
5. This Court, considered the rival submissions and perused the materials available on records.
6. Though the petitioner prays for a larger relief, this Court, in the light of the above facts and circumstances, without going into the merits of the claim projected by the petitioner, directs the first respondent to consider the representation of the petitioner dated 26.11.2016 on merits and in accordance with law and in the light of the above cited judgement as well as the instructions of P.& A.R. Department in Letter Ms.No.43/N/2015-3 dated 26.04.2016 and pass orders within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and communicate the decision taken, to the petitioner. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs.
04.01.2017 Index:Yes/No Internet: Yes/No vsi M.SATHYANARAYANAN.,J..
vsi To
1. The District Forest Officer, Thiruvannamalai North Forest Division, Thiruvannamalai, Thiruvannamalai District
2. The Inspector of Police, Vigilance and Anti corruption, Vellore, Vellore District.
Writ Petition No.93 of 2017 04.01.2017 http://www.judis.nic.in