| On exoneration, govt servant be given full pay, allowances: HC | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 7: A high court division bench of Chief Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice Bansi Lal Bhat has held that a government servant, who has been fully exonerated, be given full pay and allowances to which he would have been entitled to, if he has not been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired before attaining the age of superannuation or suspended as the case may be.
The court judgement came in a petition filed by Rajinder Singh Parihar, who was a clerk in 1974 and against whom criminal prosecution was launched under section 409, 467 and 477-A of RPC. After investigation, challan was presented in the court of Sessions Judge, Udhampur, and the trial court on April 29, 1998 acquitted him of all the charges, holding that there was absolutely nothing in the evidence of prosecution from which it could be said that the accused directly or indirectly committed any misappropriation. Also, the case of prosecution had not been clearly and completely unfolded by its witnesses before the court.
The court held that a government servant should be given full pay and allowances to which he would have been entitled to had he not been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired before attaining the age of superannuation or suspended, as the case may be. The period of absence from duty shall be treated as period spent on duty, the court directed.
With these observations, the bench allowed the petition and ordered that the petitioner was held entitled to get the entire suspension period as duty period with all consequential benefits, like promotion which had been given to his juniors as per rules and the difference in salary after adjusting the subsistence allowance already paid. The benefits arising out of this order shall be worked out and paid to the petitioner within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order by the respondents, the court ordered. (JNF) |
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