This writ petition has been filed seeking a direction to the third respondent to conclude the proceedings in TDP Case No.5 of 2016 within a time frame, not exceeding four weeks.
2. The petitioner has been slapped with a charge, which is given as under:-
While you (Accused Officer) Thiru R.John Peter, were working as Commercial Tax Officer, (Group-B), Valparai, Coimbatore District, you (AO) had demanded Rs.3 lakhs as bribe for not imposing penalty Rs.22 lakhs for the discrepancy found in the assessment report submitted by the complainant Thiru M.Venkatesh Babu, S/o S.Murugesan, Human Resources Department Manager, Tea Estate India Limited, No.10, Thambu Nagar, Puliakulam, Coimbatore for the year 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 to four garden bungalows of Tea Estate Company Limited, Valparai. Thus you (AO) had failed to maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty.
3. As the enquiry has been posted to 8.7.2017 and five witnesses and 17 documents produced on the side of the prosecution are to be examined and considered, this will generally take time depending upon the pendency of the cases on the file of the Tribunal for Disciplinary Proceedings. Therefore, when the petitioner has been charged with a serious allegation and when the petitioner himself is not able to say how many witnesses and documents are going to be produced on his side, this Court is not inclined to entertain the writ petition. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs.