LAL BAHADUR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This application has been filed for quashing the order as contained in Memo dated 7.10.2004 (Annexure 1) whereby, the petitioner has been put under suspension.

(2.) Short facts giving rise to the present application are that the petitioner is an accused in R.C. case No. 3 (A) of 1997 (D) popularly known as the Bitumen scam case. The said case was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and ultimately petitioner was charge-sheeted. He was taken into custody in the said case on 6.1.2004 and order directing his release was passed on 9.3.2004. It is the stand of the petitioner that after he was released on bail, he submitted his joining and started discharging his duty but later on, by the impugned order dated 7.10.2004 he has been put under suspension with effect from 5.1.2004. It is the stand of the petitioner that the State Government does not possess power to pass order of suspension with retrospective effect and in any view of the matter after the release of the petitioner on bail, the petitioner can be put under suspension only by a fresh order.

(3.) Mr. Rupak Kumar appearing on behalf of the petitioner draws my attention to the order of suspension and submits that the said order was passed on 7.10.2004, whereas petitioner has been put under suspension with retrospective effect i.e. 5.1.2004, which is not permissible in law. In support of his submission he has placed reliance on a Division Bench judgment of this Court on the case of Bachcho Lal Das v. State of Bihar, 1983 PLJR 561, and my attention has been drawn to paragraph 9 of the judgment which reads as follows: