SURYAKUMAR S THAKER Vs. DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER MEHSANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed by the petitioner against an order of suspension. The case of the petitioner is that he is in the employment of the respondents since 1969 as Additional Assistant Engineer. On certain allegations of illegalities and irregularities, alleged to have been committed by him in the year 1983, he was placed under suspension by an order dt. 19/09/1994. That order was passed by the District Development Officer, Mehsana, respondent No. 1 herein. Being aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner approached this Court by filing Special Civil Application No. 11502 of 1994. It came up for hearing before my learned brother M. R. Calla, J. on 6/10/1994. After hearing the learned Counsel for the petitioner, the Court passed the following order :

(2.) It appears that in pursuance of the above order passed by this Court, an appeal was filed by the petitioners before the Additional Development Commissioner, respondent No. 2 under Rule 13 of the Gujarat Panchayat Service (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1964 (hereinafter referred to as "the Rules"). The second respondent, however, vide his communication dt. 1/12/1994 returned the memorandum of appeal to the petitioner, inter alia, observing that as suspension is not penalty, no appeal would lie and the appeal is not maintainable. It is that order passed by the second respondent which is challenged in the present petition by the petitioner.

(3.) Now, looking to the relevant provisions of the Rules, it is abundantly clear that suspension is not one of the penalties contemplated by the Rules and suspension cannot be imposed by way of penalty. Penalties have been referred to in Rule 5 of the Rules. Rule 5 reads as under :