PATNA, India, Sept. 9 -- Patna High Court issued the following judgment on Aug. 11:

This petition has been preferred by the petitioner seeking the following reliefs:

"(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ to quash the resolution of the Home Department (Police) Government of Bihar contained in number 9173 dated 08.09.2022 by which the Government has decided to initiate the departmental proceeding against the petitioner under Rule 17 (5) (C) of Bihar CCA Rules 2005.

(ii) For issuance of an appropriate writ for commanding and directing the respondents to not initiate/conduct a departmental proceeding against the petitioner till the disposal of the criminal proceeding.

(iii) For issuance of an appropriate writ for commanding and directing the respondents not to take any final decision in the departmental proceeding till the disposal of the criminal proceeding.

(iv) For any other relief/reliefs, order/orders, direction/directions may be issued in favour of the petitioner in accordance with law for which he is entitled to in the ends of justice, equity and fair play."

2 Facts of the case are that on 08.01.2011, the petitioner was appointed as Assistant Manager JMG-1 in the Central Bank of India and joined his services there on 18.01.2011. One FIR has been registered against him being EOU PS Case No 23 of 2012 on 20.10.2012 for the offence punishable under Sections 420, 468, 473, 120B of the IPC. A disciplinary proceeding was initiated against the petitioner and charge sheet was served by the Central Bank of India (Annexure 23A) on 09.02.2015. Vide Annexure 24 dated 22.04.2015, third charge was added to the charge sheet and the Enquiry Officer was directed to enquire the third charge also. The third charge related to the FIR bearing EOU PS Case No 23 of 2012 registered by the EOU on 20.10.2012 as well as on the ground that the petitioner had suppressed the aforesaid fact before his employer, i e, the Central Bank of India. Meanwhile, the petitioner, after getting NOC, participated in the recruitment process conducted by the BPSC for the 53rd to 55th combined competitive examination for appointment to the gazetted service. Petitioner was declared finally successful. At the time of document verification, petitioner submitted his affidavit dated 30.06.2014 (Annexure 1) wherein it has been declared by him that there is one criminal case pending against him bearing EOU PS Case No 23 of 2012 in which charge sheet has not been submitted against him. Finally, the appointment letter (Annexure 4) has been issued to the petitioner on 05.02.2015 and he joined his services after getting no objection from the Bank, i e, his previous employer. The Bank had accepted the resignation vide order dated 18.09.2015 with effect from 09.02.2015 (Annexure 26C). The Enquiry Officer of the Bank submitted his enquiry report on 28.07.2015 (Annexure 24B). On the basis of said, the Disciplinary Authority of the Bank passed the order of punishment imposing censure against the petitioner vide its order dated 28.07.2015 (Annexure 25B). On 11.05.2016, Prapatra Ka (Anexure 16) was issued to the petitioner for the charges in relation to EOU PS Case No 23 of 2012. The petitioner denied the allegation and submitted his reply to the show cause. However, on 08.09.2022, the Department has decided to initiate a departmental proceeding against the petitioner (Annexure 15) for the allegations levelled against him in EOU PS Case No 23 of 2012 dated 20.10.2012. Hence, this petition.

The rest of the document can be viewed at https://patnahighcourt.gov.in/viewjudgment/MTUjMTU4NDAjMjAyMiMxI04=-7B5tdEF1yP4=

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.