VIJAYSINH BHAMABHAI DODIYA Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Special Civil Application is directed against the order dt.20.8.99 (Annexure 'A' to the petition) whereby the petitioner, who has been working as a Professor in Surgery, was placed under suspension.

(2.) While the petitioner was working as Professor in Surgery at M.P.Shah Medical College, Jamnagar, by an order dt.26.11.98 he was transferred to Bhavnagar.Against this transfer order dt.26.11.98 the petitioner preferred a Special Civil Application No.10558/98 alleging that the petitioner held the post of Professor since 1986 and that he was a recognised Post Graduate Teacher since 1987, that he held various positions of academic distinction in various Universities and other academic bodies. The aforesaid transfer order was challenged on the grounds of malafides and it was submitted that the transfer order was aimed to deprive the petitioner of the positions of academic distinctions including membership of the Senate and the Academic Council of Saurashtra University, as also the membership of the Medical Council of India including that of the membership of the Executive of the Medical Council of India, further that respondent No.4 in that petition i.e. Special civil Application No.10558/98 had lost against the petitioner in the elections for the membership of Medical Council of India and that the said respondent No.4 in that petition i.e. Special Civil Application No.10558/98 was having a political clout in the ruling party. It was further alleged that there was no Post Graduate Teaching at Medical College, Bhavnagar and there were about seven Post Graduate students registered under him at Jamnagar where there was a Post Graduate Teaching. That Post Graduate Teaching at Jamnagar would be seriously affected, including the fate of those seven students, who were registered under him because he was a recognized guide for Post Graduate Teaching and Research work and his transfer at that juncture during the middle of the session is bound to affect the future prospects of the students and further that his transfer to a place where there was no Post Graduate Teaching could not be said to be in public interest, rather it was against public interest, that the transfer order had been passed for collateral purposes and extraneous reasons not at all germane to the requirements of public interest and further that no one had been posted vice him at the Medical College, Jamnagar. In this Special Civil Application No.10558/98 stay order was passed in petitioner's favour on 10.12.98 and a copy of the said order has been produced during the course of arguments by Mr. Lakhani in which the case of the petitioner, as narrated above against the transfer order, had been recorded. Thus the operation of the transfer order dt.26.11.98 was stayed and it was ordered that the petitioner shall be allowed to function as Professor at Jamnagar as he was functioning prior to the passing of the impugned order dt.26.11.98. This ad interim order was later on confirmed on 29.12.98 with liberty to the respondents to apply for modification of the order after filing a detailed parawise reply. Mr.Lakhani has also produced a copy of the order dt.11.3.99 passed in the aforesaid Special Civil Application No.10558/98 whereby the aforesaid interim order was vacated on the ground that the Medical College at Bhavnagar was left without a Professor in Surgery. A copy of this order dt.11.3.99 has also been produced by Mr.Lakhani during the course of arguments. Against this order dt.11.3.99, whereby the stay order was vacated, a Letters Patent Appeal was preferred by the petitioner but the same was dismissed on 30.3.99. However, Special Civil Application No.10558/98 is still said to be pending.

(3.) Petitioner's case is that he proceeded on leave from 12.3.99 on the ground that his mother was suffering from a serious ailment. He remained on leave upto 26.4.99 and on 27.4.99 he submitted an application to the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department as a joining report stating therein that from 12.3.99 to 26.4.99 he was on commuted leave because of his mother's ill health. It was further stated in this joining report that on 26.4.99 he had inquired at Government Medical College,Bhavnagar and was replied that the post of Professor of Surgery at Government Medical College,. Bhavnagar had already been filled up by promoting one Dr.M.R.Patel. It has been given out that Dr.M.R.Patel, who was working as an Associate Professor, was promoted as Professor at Bhavnagar and he resumed as Professor on 14.4.99. It appears from the copy of the joining report dt.27.4.99 placed on record with this petition as Annexure 'B' that the petitioner requested for issue of necessary orders as to where should he join his duties. However, he did not receive any reply in response to his joining report dt.27.4.99 and no posting order was issued. The petitioner, therefore, sent another letter dt.13.5.99 in the matter of his posting but no reply was received and thereupon he met the concerned Commissioner on 31.5.99 and he was told that he would receive the orders in due course. It is also the case of the petitioner that in the meanwhile on 15.3.99 one Dr.Sharad Vyas was transferred from Ahmedabad to Jamnagar but he did not join and on 26.4.99 he was retransferred to Ahmedabad and it is also the case of the petitioner that so far as the post of Professor in Surgery at Medical College, Jamnagar is concerned one Dr.Shukla, Associate Professor, was appointed on contract basis, but no posting is given to the petitioner. Thereafter, on 28.6.99 an order was passed giving posting to the petitioner at Bhavnagar as Dr.M.R.Patel, who was working at Medical College, Bhavnagar had been transferred to Rajkot. This order dt.28.6.99 was served upon the petitioner on 1.7.99 and immediately thereafter he resumed his duties at Bhavnagar on 5.7.99. On the next day of his joining at Bhavnagar, the petitioner again proceeded on leave from 6.7.99 and while he was on leave, a show cause notice dt.13.7.99 was sent to the petitioner, which was replied by him on 16.7.99, which was followed by another reply dt.20.7.99. Thereafter, the present impugned order dt.20.8.99, Annexure 'A" was passed placing the petitioner under suspension. Against this order dt.20.8.99 the present Special Civil Application was filed in this court on 1.11.99. When the matter came up before the Court on 1.12.99, rule was issued and made returnable on 8.12.99. Appearance was also entered on behalf of the respondents through Mr.R.C. Kodekar and on 8.12.99 the matter was made to stand over on 10.12.99 and again to 13.12.99 and on 13.12.99, learned A.G.P. submitted that the matter may be kept on 15.12.99 and both the sides requested that the matter may be finally argued on 15.12.99. No return was filed and the matter was argued.