ARUNA SINGAL Vs. SECRETARY GEN (LOK SABHA)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition, at the instance of the petitioner Aruna Singal, impugns an order, dated 18th December, 2000, issued by the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha (as the petitioner's disciplinary authority), which holds that the petitioner had "failed to maintain integrity and indulged in acts unbecoming of an officer unauthorizedly with effect from 13.08.1996" and, as a sequitur, imposes, on the petitioner, the "penalty of removal from service which shall ordinarily not be a disqualification for her future employment in the Lok Sabha Secretariat". The said order further directs that the period of the petitioner's alleged unauthorised absence from duty w.e.f. 13th August, 1996, would be treated as dies non. The appeal, preferred by the petitioner against the said order of removal, was rejected, by the appellate authority, vide order dated 26th July, 2001 which, too, therefore, forms subject matter of the challenge in the present writ petition.

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that, w.e.f. 13th August, 1996, she remained sick on account of pulmonary tuberculosis, and was unable to attend to her official duties. Accordingly, she applied, on 13th August, 1996, for being sanctioned leave on medical grounds. Apparently, no such leave was sanctioned by the respondent which, instead, directed the petitioner to get herself examined by a medical board of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital. The petitioner had herself examined by the medical board in the RML Hospital, which, consequent thereupon, addressed the following communication, dated 3rd January, 1997, to the respondent:

(3.) The use of the word "therefore", in the above certificate of the RML Hospital, makes it apparent that the reason for not declaring the petitioner fit was the fact that she was suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. The certificate also makes it clear that she would be fit only after proper treatment.