ASHOK DAS Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has challenged an order dated 17.06.2017 passed by the State Government terminating the service of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had secured Government service as a Scheduled Caste candidate. However, his caste certificate was subsequently cancelled.

(2.) Brief facts are as under: Petitioner was appointed on the post of Agricultural Officer, Grade-I under the Department of Agriculture, Government of Tripura on 01.02.1999 on a reserved vacancy for SC candidate. In the year 2005, an inquiry was conducted by the vigilance cell of the State Government regarding the caste status of the petitioner. The State Level Scrutiny Committee (SLSC for short) issued a show cause notice to the petitioner on 22.07.2010 alleging that the caste certificate issued in favour of the petitioner was invalid and the petitioner did not belong to SC the community. Proposal was to cancel the caste certificate. The petitioner resisted the show cause notice proceedings. The petitioner also approached this Court by filing W.P(C) No.565 of 2010 challenging the jurisdiction of the caste scrutiny certificate, which petition was dismissed on 5.01.2011. The SLSC passed an order dated 21.05.2011 cancelling the SC certificate of the petitioner. The petitioner challenged the said order before the High Court by filing Writ Petition (c) No.275 of 2011. This petition was dismissed by the learned Single Judge by a Judgment dated 22.09.2016. Petitioner challenged this judgment in Writ Appeal No.108 of 2016 which was dismissed on 13.02.2017. The letter patent appeal against the said judgment was also dismissed by the Supreme Court on 13.04.2017. That apart, the respondent No.2 passed the impugned order dated 17.06.2017 whereby the service of the petitioner was terminated in terms of Rule- 7A(9) of the Tripura Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Reservation Rules, 1992. This order of the petitioner has been challenged in the present petition.

(3.) Appearing for the petitioner, learned counsel Mr. Arijit Bhowmik submitted that the petitioner had put in several years of satisfactory service. He is now over aged. He cannot secure any other employment in Government organisations. He submitted that in any case, on the basis of service already put in by the petitioner, he must be given pensionary benefits. He has drawn my attention to the decision of the Supreme Court in case of Chairman and Managing Director, Food Corporation of India and others v. Jagdish Balaram Bahira and others: reported in (2017) 8 SCC 670 and contended that when the rules do not prohibit, the Court can exercise discretionary powers and retain the benefits of past service already put in, even though the caste certificate may have been cancelled. He lastly contented that the State of Tripura the Government has adopted different yardsticks. In the majority of the cases of similar nature past services are not forfeited. He has drawn my attention to the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in case of Sri Nepal Majumder v. The State of Tripura and another in Writ Petition(C) No.68/2015 where the Division Bench directed that the punishment of dismissal be converted into one of compulsory retirement where the caste certificate of the Government servant was cancelled.