ABUL HASAN Vs. WORKS MANAGER NORTHERN RAILWAY LUCKNOW

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a special appeal against the judgment of a learned Judge of this Court dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant Abul Hasan under Article 226 of the Constitution.

(2.) The appellant was a permanent class IV employee in the Loco workshop of the Northern Railway at Lucknow where he was posted for several years. He was departmentally charged for being found unlawfully in possession of railway property on the 18th November, 1953, and as a result of the inquiry which followed he was held guilty of the charges and also asked on the 8th April, 1954, to show cause why he should not be removed from service. Admittedly while sending him the above show cause notice the punishing officer failed to supply him a copy of the findings of the Inquiry Committee. On the 24th April, 1954, the appellant wrote to the Works Manager who was the punishing authority to supply him a copy of the findings to enable him to furnish his reply to the show cause notice. This request of his was turned down on the 3rd of May, 1954, on the pretext that the findings of the Inquiry Committee was a record intended for office and could not be of any help to him. The appellant then sent his reply on the 10th May 1934, in which he once again stressed his innocence. On the 15th of June, 1954, the Works Manager removed him from service, The relevant portion of the order which, he sent to the appellant provided thus :

(3.) Some further facts are that the appellant filed an appeal against the order of the Works Manager dated the 11th June, 1954, to the Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer, Delhi who on the 16th April, 1956, informed him that his appeal had been dismissed. On the 20th May, 1956, the appellant submitted a representation to the General Manager, Northern Railway. This was replied to by the Works Manager on the 21st of June, 1956, to the effect that since his appeal had been considered by the competent authority and also disposed of, on the 16th April, 1956, no further appeal lay and that the representation had been withheld in his office. The appellant was not satisfied with this reply and wrote to the Works Manager that he had made a representation to the General Manager and not filed any appeal intending thereby to state that it deserved to be forwarded to the latter. This was replied to by the Works Manager on the 5th of September 1956 to the effect that there was nothing further to add to his letter of the 21st of June, 1956. On the 12th November, 1956, the petitioner then filed the writ petition in this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution which has given rise to this appeal, One of the reliefs asked in it was a writ of certiorari to quash (1) the order dated the 11th June, 1954, discharging from service, and (2) to quash the order or the appellate authority dated the 19th May, 1956, rejecting his appeal. He also prayed that a writ of mandamus also be issued directing the Works Manager, Northern Railway Locoshops, Charbagh, Lucknow to reinstate him on his post with retrospective effect, to pay the appellant the arrears of wages for the suspension period and to pay full wages from the date of his removal from his service i.e. from 15th June, 1954, upto the date he is put back on duty.