BASHIR AHMAD DAR Vs. STATE AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner vide order No. 1140 of 1996 dated 31st July, 1996 was appointed as Constable in Jammu and Kashmir Police Department, allotted to district Baramulla and given Belt No. 1070/B. He unauthorizedly absented himself from the place of attachment on 5th June, 2004. After notices issued to him to report to duty failed to evoke any response, the petitioner was discharged from service vide order No. 1344/2004 dated 21st December, 2004, w. e. f. the date of his unauthorized absence i.e. 5th June, 2004.

(2.) The order No. 1344/2004 dated 21st December, 2004 (appended as Annexure-D to the writ petition), whereby the petitioner has been discharged is assailed in the writ petition on hand on the grounds set out in the petition. The order is primarily questioned on the grounds that the respondents failed to comply with the mandate of Jammu and Kashmir Police Rules, 1960 (hereinafter referred to as Rules of 1960) while dealing with the matter and discharging the petitioner from the services.

(3.) Respondents oppose the writ petition on the grounds that the service record of the petitioner is full of punishments, that the petitioner was a habitual absentee, and failed to discharge his duties to the satisfaction of his superiors. It is pleaded that a number of notices served on the petitioner including one served through SHO Police Station Pattan, requiring him to resume his duties did not yield any result. A notice also said to have been published in a local daily without any response from the petitioner. It is insisted that the order dated 21st December, 2004 questioned in the writ petition was passed after adhering to the rules and regulations and is therefore beyond challenge.