LAWS(SC)-2001-2-217

STATE OF U P Vs. RAJ PAL SINGH

Decided On February 20, 2001
STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Appellant
V/S
RAJ PAL SINGH Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Allahabad interfering with an order of punishment inflicted upon the respondent in a disciplinary proceeding.

(2.) Admittedly, the respondent was an Assistant Warder and the allegation against him was that he along with four other Assistant Warders beat one Shivdan Singh, and even though the senior officers dissuaded them, they never listened to that. These allegations were proved in a departmental proceeding and the disciplinary authority passed the order of dismissal so far as the present respondent is concerned, though in respect of some others, he passed the order of stoppage of five increments.

(3.) The respondent assailed the legality of the order by approaching the Public Service Tribunal. The Tribunal having refused to interfere, he approached the High Court. The High Court came to the conclusion that the charges and the delinquency being same and identical, and all the employees having been served with a set of charges out of the same incident, there was no justifiable reason to pass different orders of punishment, and, therefore, the order of dismissal cannot be sustained. The High Court consequently set aside the order of dismissal and directed stoppage of five increments in case of the respondent as was the order in case of some other Assistant Warders. The High Court further directed that the delinquent respondent would be paid only 50% of backwages. It is this order of the High Court which is the subject-matter of challenge in this appeal.