GYANIWANT NARAYAN KARWADE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A Senior Clerk in the Employment Exchange at Nagpur complains against the denial of promotion to him in the grade of Junior Employment Officer---the present post and the post to which the petitioner aspires, both being in the Class III service of the State of Maharashtra.

(2.) Petitioner joined the services of the Government of Maharashtra as a Junior Clerk in the Employment Exchange. In due course, he was promoted as a Senior Clerk. In the year 1977, some papers were tampered with and suspicion fell upon the petitioner. The matter was reported to the Police and after investigation, petitioner and 10 others were charge-sheeted in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Bhandara. The resultant trial viz. Criminal Case No. 50 of 1981, culminated in an acquittal of the petitioner vide the learned CJM's judgment delivered on 7th May, 1986. Insofar as the petitioner is concerned, he was arraigned as accused No. 1 and this is what the learned CJM had to say in relation to him:---

(3.) Petitioner complains of the supersession contending that he had been honourably acquitted and the adverse remarks appearing in C.R. No. 1987-88 should not have been utilised to deny promotion unto him. The acquittal by a component Court wiped out the suspicion that had been created against him. Having regard to the said evidence his juniors could not be allowed to supersede him. In the return filed by the respondents, it is contended that the petitioner's record was consistently bad. Adverse remarks appeared in his C.R.s ranging right from the 1980-81 to 1987-88. Adverse remarks for year 1987-88 had been communicated to the petitioner. Having regard to the adverse remarks, the petitioner could not be given precedence over his juniors. The acquittal relied upon by the petitioner was not a clean acquittal. He had been given the benefit of doubt because of want of sufficient evidence. Alternatively, petitioner was challenging the promotion of his juniors, who had not been impleaded to the petition and this rendered the petition bad for non-joinder of necessary parties.