RAJESH GUPTA Vs. STATE OF J AND K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THROUGH the medium of present writ petition, the petitioner seeks a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing Government Order No. 471 -GAD of 2005 dt. 26th of April'05 whereby the petitioner has been prematurely retired from service. Writ is also sought in the nature of mandamus commanding upon respondents to allow the petitioner to continue in service till he attains the age of superannuation and to grant him all the service benefits.

(2.) THE case of the petitioner who was working as Executive Engineer, Rural Engineering Wing, Kathua, is that he was served a charge sheet on 11th of March'05 which was received by him on 11th of April'05. He submitted reply to the charge sheet on 16th of April'05. It is stated that the respondents instead of dropping the disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner removed him from service vide order impugned date 26th of April'05. It is this order, which as indicated above, is the subject matter of challenge in the present petition.

(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the petitioner submits that when the respondents have not taken into consideration the reply furnished by the petitioner to the charge sheet and he has been removed from service without affording any opportunity of being heard, then the proceedings initiated by the respondents would be deemed to have been dropped. It is stated that the petitioner throughout his service career was not having any doubtful integrity, and therefore, cannot be declared as a deadwood. It is stated that the Committee constituted for the purpose should have taken into consideration the service record of the petitioner before recommending the case of the petitioner for premature retirement. It is stated that the Government, no doubt, has the power to retire a Government servant from service prematurely but this should be done only when the said official is having dis -satisfactory performance and is proved to be an officer/official of doubtful integrity and this should be done taking into consideration the entire service record of the said officer and not the record of a particular period. Learned Counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on the judgments reported as : (1984)ILLJ337SC Anoop Jaisivnl v. Government of India and Anr. : (1997)ILLJ238SC , State of Orissa v. Ramchandra Das : (2000)IILLJ648SC , Union of India v. G. Ganayutham : (1999)ILLJ923SC , M.S. Bindra v. UOI 1999 (1) SCC 529, State of Gujrat v. Swyakant Chuni Lal Shah : [2003]2SCR615 , Jugal Chander Saikia v. State of Assam and Anr. 2004 (7) Supreme 94, Pritam Singh v. UOI and 1993 KLJ 352, Ghulam Rasool Azad v. State and Ors.