Vijay Kumar Gupta v. State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Revenue Deptt. U.P. Lko. and 4 Others

Court No. - 20 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 9224 of 2023 Petitioner :- Vijay Kumar Gupta Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Revenue Deptt. U.P. Lko. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Riyaz Ahmad,Anamika Shukla Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Manish Mathur,J. Heard learned counsel for petitioner and learned State Counsel appearing on behalf of opposite parties. Petition has been filed challenging order dated 22nd March, 2023 whereby petitioner while being reinstated for re-inquiry has been continued under suspension. Also under challenge is the charge sheet dated 14th July, 2023. It has been submitted that earlier petitioner had filed writ petition No. 1310 of 2023 challenging punishment order dated 4th January, 2021 and the orders dated 4th December, 2021 and 14th December, 2022 whereby his appeal and revisions were rejected. The aforesaid writ petition was allowed by means of judgment and order dated 22nd February, 2023 primarily on the ground that the inquiry did not follow procedure as indicated under Rule 7 of U.P. Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1999 granting liberty to opposite parties to conduct an inquiry afresh. It is submitted that in pursuance thereof, by means of impugned order while petitioner has been reinstated in service but his suspension has been continued. After arguing at some length, learned counsel for petitioner restricts his prayer for a direction to opposite parties to reach a conclusion of inquiry proceedings since petitioner is due to superannuate soon. Considering innocuous prayer and without entering into merits of the case, since petitioner has already been served with a charge sheet, liberty is granted to file a reply thereto within a period of 15 days from today. In case the reply is submitted within aforesaid time period, inquiry proceedings initiated by issuance of charge sheet dated 14th July, 2023 shall be concluded within a period of three months thereafter subject to cooperation by petitioner. With the aforesaid directions, the writ petition stands disposed of. Order Date :- 1.12.2023 prabhat High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench