PRADIPTA KUMAR SAHOO Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner gained employment as a Lecturer in Zoology vide appointment order dtd. 12/1/1989. This was made after selection conducted by the Governing Body then. He reported for duty with effect from 16/1/1989. Petitioner's appointment came to be validated in terms of the Validation Act, 1998 with effect from 1/4/1992, presumably the issue as to validity of a class of such employees having cropped up in the State. He gained promotion to the post of Reader as it then was with retrospective effect from 1/4/2019 pursuant to order dtd. 10/2/2021. He demitted office on attaining the age of superannuation on 28/2/2023. Petitioner is knocking at the doors of Writ Court for assailing the order dtd. 2/12/20.23 (Annexure-11) whereby the Special Secretary to Government in the Department of Higher Education has in a way indefinitely held up the terminal benefits of the petitioner on the ground that petitioner is not coming forward despite granting abundant opportunity to produce the educational certificates and therefore, the inquiry be kept open against him in eternity. With that ground, the impugned order rejects petitioner's representation dtd. 23/4/2022 for grant of terminal benefits including the pension etc.

(2.) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, pressing into service the decision of the Apex Court in D.S. Nakara v. Union of India, AIR 1983 SC 130, submits that pension being consideration for the past service rendered by an employee, has to be sanctioned & released to the petitioner especially when there is no fault on his part. He also draws attention of the Court to the checkered history of the case, which involved certain allegations made against the petitioner as to procurement of public employment by production of fake certificates. The efforts of complainant having failed, some other persons lodged FIR in Brahmagir Police Station against the petitioner and filed CRLMP No.791 of 2022 before this Court, which came to be dismissed with a cost of Rs.50,000.00 vide order dtd. 25/1/2023. The matter was carried forward to the Apex Court with no avail. He also adds that the investigation was conducted by the Crime Branch of the State and the report exonerating the petitioner from all charges was prepared on 30/12/2023. Therefore, he submits, the opposite parties are liable to sanction & release all terminal benefits with interest.

(3.) After service of notice, opposite parties having entered appearance through the learned AGA, have filed the counter resisting the petition. Mr.Mohanty, learned AGA vehemently contends that once the public employment is procured by producing fake certificates, no benefit can be derived by the employee since fraud & fabrication vitiate everything and therefore, no relief can be granted to the petitioner in writ jurisdiction, which is meant for scrupulous litigants. He also tells that despite granting abundant opportunity, petitioner failed to produce genuine certificates or documents to vouch his claim that he had studied I.Sc. in 1980, B.Sc. in 1982, & M.Sc. in 1985 and only thereafter in a scrupulous way, he got entry to public employment. Lastly, he also argues that fraud vitiates everything vide S.P. Chengal Varaya Naidu V. Jagannath, (1994) 1 SCC 1 and therefore, petition is liable to be rejected.