DIRECTOR OF SERICULTURE Vs. S PANNEERSELVAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD the learned counsel appearing for the parties.

(2.) RESPONDENT No.1 was appointed as Demonstrator in the Sericulture Department. Soon thereafter, he was involved in an offence relating to theft of sandalwood logs and a criminal case was registered. The trial court by judgment dated 30.4.1985, convicted RESPONDENT No.1 and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months. After such order of conviction, the departmental authorities by taking recourse to Rule 17(c)(i)(1) of TNCS (CCA) Rules, dismissed the present RESPONDENT No.1 from service. At that stage, RESPONDENT No.1 filed an appeal against the order of conviction and ultimately the appellate court, while upholding the conviction, released the RESPONDENT No.1 by applying Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act (in short P.O.Act) . Armed with the aforesaid order passed by the appellate court in the criminal proceedings releasing RESPONDENT No.1 under Section 4 of the P.O. Act, RESPONDENT No.1 filed O.A.No.339 of 1992 before the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal (in short "Tribunal"). The Tribunal came to the conclusion that in view of the provisions contained in Section 12 of the P.O. Act, the factum of conviction cannot be a ground for dismissing the officer from service and ultimately allowed such Original Application and directed that he should be reinstated with all service benefits but without backwages. For coming to such a conclusion, the Tribunal appears to have placed reliance upon the decision of this Court reported in 2000 (Iv) Ctc 409 (P. Subramanian V. The Joint Registrar Of Co-Operative Societies). The judgment of the Tribunal is questioned by the Director of Sericulture in the present writ petition.

(3.) SECTION 12 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 reads as follows :- -12. Removal of disqualification attaching to conviction.-Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, a person found guilty of an offence and dealt with under the provisions of SECTION 3 or SECTION 4 shall not suffer disqualification, if any, attaching to a conviction of an offence under such law: Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to a person who, after his release under SECTION 4, is subsequently sentenced for the original offence.-