N MAHALINGAM Vs. PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondent.

(2.) The petitioner has stated that he had been appointed as a Forest Watcher, in the Forest Department, on 6.11.1976. Thereafter, he had been promoted as a Forest Guard, on 8.10.1989. The next higher cadre to which the petitioner was to be promoted was that of Forester, for which he was fully qualified.

(3.) It has been further stated that, while he was working as a Watcher, in Santhavasal Range, in Vellore Division, in the year, 1982, certain charges had been levelled against him stating that he had demanded and accepted illegal gratifications. Even though the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission had advised the Government to drop the charges, as they had not been proved, the State Government had imposed on the petitioner, the punishment of removal from service, by a Government Order, in G.O.(3D) E&F Department, dated 19.7.2002.