ALKA SEHGAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the instant writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India for quashing of the order dated 14.2.2011 (Annexure P3) passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), whereby the Original Application filed by the petitioner for quashing the letter dated 23.9.2009 vide which she was asked to deposit the amount of Rs. 46,682/- towards leave salary as well as pension contribution for the period she remained on foreign assignment, has been dismissed. The petitioner is working as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Govt. Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh (hereinafter referred to as 'the respondent-College'). Vide letter dated 26.6.2006, she was invited by Hebei Medical University, China for a period of four months for delivering guest lectures on the subject of Gynaecology at its Medical College in China. The said letter was specifically in the name of the petitioner which was routed through the Director/Principal of the respondent College. After seeking necessary clearances from the Ministries of Home and External Affairs, the petitioner was permitted vide letter dated 9.10.2006 to proceed to Hebei Medical University, China from 9.10.2006 to 8.2.2007. After the return of the petitioner from China, the respondent-College vide letter dated 1.1.2008 asked the petitioner to deposit Rs. 40,926/- towards leave salary and pension contribution for the period she remained on foreign assignment. When the petitioner did not deposit the said amount, another letter dated 23.9.2009 was issued and she was asked to deposit the leave salary as well as pension contribution within 10 days, or else, she would forfeit her right to count the period spent on foreign assignment/foreign service, as duty.

(2.) Instead of depositing the said amount, the petitioner filed the Original Application before the learned Tribunal seeking directions to quash those letters while claiming that her assignment to Hebei Medical University, China was not a foreign assignment, but on the said assignment she was sent on deputation by the respondent-College, therefore, she is not liable to deposit the amount claimed on account of leave salary and pension contribution.

(3.) The learned Tribunal dismissed the Original Application while holding that the aforesaid foreign visit of the petitioner cannot be treated as deputation. The said assignment was a foreign assignment at the expense of the foreign institution, and in case the foreign institution does not pay for the leave salary and pension for the said period, the petitioner is liable to pay the said amount, until and unless she takes steps for getting the said period adjusted as leave of the kind due. The said order passed by the learned Tribunal has been challenged by the petitioner in this writ petition.