HARBANS LAL Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this petition under Articles 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to release Leave Encashment as per settled law along with interest.

(2.) Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is a dismissed employee of the District Court. He was caught taking bribe while posted as a Reader to a Court in the Sessions Division, Amritsar. He was convicted under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Consequently, the petitioner was dismissed from service after issuing him a show cause notice. Service appeal of the petitioner against dismissal order was also dismissed on the administrative side. The petitioner also filed petition before this Court against his dismissal order but remained unsuccessful. He prays for payment of leave encashment on the basis of a judgment of this Court in 'Dhir Chand v. State of Haryana & others, 2019 1 SCT 134'. In Dhir Chand case following an earlier Full Bench decision of this Court in case 'Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd. & others vs. Pyare Lal, 2014 4 SCT 711' and two judgments of other High Courts, it was held that leave encashment cannot be legally withheld from a dismissed government employee except in accordance with rules made in this behalf. In para 5 it was held as under:-

(3.) The decision rendered in Dhir Chand's case was authored by me and has been rendered per incuriam without noticing the many successive instructions issued by the Government. The subject matter is presently covered by the decision of Brother Harsimran Singh Sethi, J, in 'Ram Kumar Ranga Vs. State of Haryana and others' (CWP-3843-2019 decided on 15.07.2019) in which the entire conspectus of instructions/clarifications/modifications of the State of Haryana issued from time to time on the point of leave encashment have been noticed and the legal principle culled out, exhaustively examined and an elaborate judgment rendered which I am full agreement with. Those instructions were not brought to my notice when the judgment was made in Dhir Chand.