UTPAL DAS Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two writ petitions - W.P.[C] No. 1534/2021 and W.P.[C] No. 1546 - are preferred by the two petitioners separately against the same nature of penalties imposed upon them through two separate orders, that is, F and ESO No. 729 dtd. 30/3/2019 and F and ESO No. 515 dtd. 11/3/2019 respectively passed by the respondent No. 2 i.e. the Special Director General of Police-cum-Director, Fire and Emergency Services, Assam.

(2.) As the issues involved in the two writ petitions are same and the factual matrices are almost same, the two writ petitions are taken up together, at the instance of and agreed to by the learned counsel for the parties at the admission stage.

(3.) By F and ESO No. 729 dtd. 30/3/2019, the petitioner in the writ petition, W.P.[C] No. 1534/2021 has been awarded penalty in the form of 631 days Leave Without Pay [LWP] for the period of his absence and suspension w.e.f. 8/7/2017 to 30/3/2019 purportedly under Rule 7 of the Assam Services [Discipline and Appeal] Rules, 1964 ['the 1964 Rules' and/or 'Rules, 1964] and Sec. 6[2] of the Assam Fire Service Act, 1985 ['the AFS Act, 1985', for short].