Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Bhupinder Singh vs Unitech Ltd on 23 January, 2025
Author: Surya Kant
Bench: Surya Kant
IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016
ITEM NO.7 COURT NO.3 SECTION XVII-A
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 10856/2016
BHUPINDER SINGH APPELLANT
VERSUS
UNITECH LTD. & ORS. RESPONDENTS
[ ONLY IA NO. 234374/2023 IS LISTED UNDER THIS ITEM ]
(IA No. 234374/2023 – INTERVENTION AND DIRECTIONS)
Date : 23-01-2025 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NONGMEIKAPAM KOTISWAR SINGH
For Applicant in
IA No.234374/2023: Mr. P. Chidambaram, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Akshat Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Shrey Nautiyal, Adv.
Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, AOR
For Appellant(s) :
Mr. Deepak Goel, AOR
Mr. Kumar Kartikay, Adv.
Ms. Purvi Goyal, Adv.
Ms. Neelu Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Karthik Hooda, Adv.
Mr. E Vinay Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Himanshu Singh Dhillon, Adv.
Mr. Pardeep Dahiya, Adv.
For Respondent(s) :
Mr. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Signature Not Verified
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Digitally signed by
Mrs. Chitrangda Rastravara, Adv.
POOJA SHARMA
Date: 2025.01.24
18:35:49 IST
Ms. Shreya Jain, Adv.
Reason:
Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.
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Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, Amicus Curiae
Mr. Varun K. Chopra, Adv.
Ms. Anubha Agrawal, AOR
Ms. Mumtaz Bhalla, AOR
Ms. Prapti Allagh, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar, AOR
Ms. Meenakshi Sood, Adv.
Mr. Adarsh Singh, Adv.
Ms. Nidhi Mohan Parashar, AOR
Mr. Viraj S. Shah, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep Singh Dhingra, Adv.
Ms. Gurjinder Kaur, Adv.
Mr. Anuj Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Shubham Rajhans, Adv.
Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv.
Ms. Charanjeet Sidhu, Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Parkash, Adv.
Ms. Manju Jetley, AOR
Ms. Upasana Nath, AOR
Mr. Aman Raj Gandhi, AOR
Mr. Amit Agrawal, AOR
Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR
Mr. Mohit D. Ram, AOR
Mr. Gopal Sankarnarayanan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Malik, Adv.
Ms. Aditi Sinha, Adv.
Ms. Rajnandini Singh, Adv.
M/S. Juris Corp., AOR
Mrs. Rachna Gupta, AOR
Ms. Asiya Khan , AOR
Mr. Deepak Goel, AOR
Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR
Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
Mr. Tushar Singh, AOR
Mr. Sandeep Devashish Das, AOR
Mr. Rajan Chawla, AOR
Mr. Arup Banerjee, AOR
Mr. Vishal Arun, AOR
Mr. P. R. Rajhans, Adv.
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Mr. Amarnath Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Sudheesh K. K., Adv.
Mrs. Sanooja M., Adv.
Mrs. Sampa Sengupta Ray, Adv.
Mr. Dileep Kumar Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Shankar Divate, AOR
Ms. Anshula Vijay Kumar Grover, AOR
Mr. Navneet R., AOR
Mr. Ishan Sanghi, Adv.
Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR
Mr. Shashank Manish, AOR
Ms. Nidhi Sahay, Adv.
Mr. Kartik Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Parinay Vasandani, Adv.
Mr. Manhar Singh Saini, Adv.
Mr. Vardaan Wanchoo, Adv.
Mr. Chandra Prakash, Adv.
M/S. D.S.K. Legal, AOR
Mr. Sunil Fernandes, AOR
Mr. Aakarsh Kamra, AOR
Mr. Zoheb Hussain, Adv.
Mr. Annam Venkatesh, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Gurnani, Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
Ms. Shweta Desai, Adv.
Ms. Nidhi Saini, Adv.
Ms. Akshita Choubey, Adv.
Ms. Karuna Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Neha Sharma, AOR
Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv.
Mr. Yashraj Singh Bundela, AOR
Ms. Saloni, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Singla, Adv.
Ms. S. Ramamani, AOR
Mr. Mandeep Kalra, AOR
Mr. Vaibhav Yadav, Adv.
Ms. Anushna Satapathy, Adv.
Ms. Radhika Jalan, Adv.
Mr. Yashas J, Adv.
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Ms. Widaphi Lyngdoh, Adv.
Ms. Anchita Nayyar, Adv.
Ms. Shriya Maini, AOR
Mr. Vinay Chadda, AOR
Mr. Divyesh Pratap Singh, AOR
Ms. Shruti Agarwal, AOR
Ms. Ruby Singh Ahuja, Adv.
Mr. Debmalya Banerjee, Adv.
Mr. Kartik Bhatnagar, Adv.
Mr. Rohan Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Kritika Sachdeva, Adv.
Ms. Apurva, Adv.
Mr. Agastya Shelat, Adv.
Mr. Tribhuvan Narain Singh, Adv.
Ms. Liza Vohra, Adv.
Mr. Sidhant Kumar Marwah, Adv.
Ms. Ekksha Kashyap, Adv.
M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR
Mr. Ankolekar Gurudatta, AOR
Mr. Karoda Pramod Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR
Mrs. Aarthi Rajan, AOR
Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR
Ms. Divya Roy, AOR
M/S. Gorkela Law Office, AOR
Mr. Utkarsh Jaiswal, AOR
Mr. Vikas Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Abhisth Kumar, AOR
Mr. Braj Kishore Mishra, AOR
Mr. Abhishek Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Adv.
Ms. Mini Kishore, Adv.
Mr. Nitin Saluja, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Gautam, AOR
Mr. Anant Gautam, Adv.
Mr. Deepanjal Choudhary, Adv.
Mr. Dinesh Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Likivi Jakhalu, Adv.
Mr. Kushagra Nilesh Sahay, Adv.
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Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR
Mr. Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, AOR
Dr. Ashutosh Garg, AOR
Mrs. Rachna Gupta, AOR
Mr. Shivendra Singh, AOR
M/S. Vachher And Agrud, AOR
Mr. Y. Raja Gopala Rao, AOR
Mr. Sonal Jain, AOR
Mr. Ahanthem Henry, Adv.
Mr. Ahanthem Rohen Singh, Adv.
Mr. Mohan Singh, Adv.
Mr. Aniket Rajput, Adv.
Ms. Khoisnam Nirmala Devi, Adv.
Ms. Relanso Hongray, Adv.
Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR
Ms. Misha Rohatgi, AOR
Mr. Nakul Mohta, Adv.
Mr. Bharat Monga, Adv.
Mr. Amulya Upadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Manish Kumar Gupta, AOR
Mr. Neeraj Kumar Gupta, AOR
Mr. Hrishikesh Baruah, AOR
Ms. Madhusmita Bora, AOR
Mr. Pawan Kishore Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Kumar Singh, AOR
Ms. Shweta Priyadarshini, Adv.
Ms. Nishi Singh, Adv.
Mr. Manoj C. Mishra, AOR
Mr. Nitesh Ranjan, AOR
Mr. Nitin Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Pranjal Vyas, Adv.
Mr. Somanatha Padhan, AOR
Mr. Akash Kakade, Adv.
Mr. Parth Kansal, Adv.
Mr. Karan Batura, AOR
Mr. Akshat Kumar, AOR
Mr. Raj Kamal, AOR
Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR
Mr. Pranav Kumar, AOR
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Mr. C. K. Sasi, AOR
Ms. Meena K Poulose, Adv.
Mr. Sushil Kumar Singh, AOR
Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR
Mr. Rajeev Kumar Panday, Adv.
Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR
Ms. Malvika Kapila, AOR
Mr. Abhay Singh, AOR
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, A.S.G.
Mr. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Mr. Chinmayee Chandra, Adv.
Mr. Siddhant Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Nidhi Khanna, Adv.
Mr. Rajan Kr.chourasia, Adv.
Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Sudarshan Lamba - Aor, Adv.
Mr. Karan Batura, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR
Mr. Shailendra Kumar Nirmal, Adv.
Ms. Satyama Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv.
Mr. Gautam Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Jasmine Damkewala, AOR
Ms. Vaishali Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Divyam Khera, Adv.
Mr. Advait Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, AOR
Mr. Shubham Sakhuja, Adv.
Mr. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Mrs. Chitrangda Rastaravara, Adv.
Ms. Shreya Jain, Adv.
Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv.
Mr. Syed Jafar Alam, AOR
Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR
Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR
Mr. Shantwanu Singh, AOR
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Mr. Atmaram Ns Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR
Ms. Kritika, Adv.
Mr. Shikhil Suri, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Dhananjai Jain, AOR
Mr. Bhoop Singh, Adv.
Mr. Rishabh Gautam, Adv.
Mr. Anurag Mishra, Adv.
Mrs. Minoti Kumari, Adv.
Ms. Omita Unnarkar, Adv.
Mr. Sujoy Chatterjee, AOR
Ms. Meera Mathur, AOR
Mr. Abhishek Kumar Singh, AOR
Mr. Atul Kumar, AOR
Mr. Vineet Bhagat, AOR
Ms. Eshna Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Udit Gupta, Adv.
M/S. Udit Kishan And Associates, AOR
Mr. D. S. Chauhan, AOR
Mr. Shikher Badial, Adv.
Ms. Mithu Jain, AOR
Mr. Tishampati Sen, Adv.
Ms. Riddhi Sancheti, AOR
Mr. Anurag Anand, Adv.
Mr. Mukul Kulhari, Adv.
Mr. Aman Gupta, AOR
Mr. Vikas Kumar, AOR
Mr. Ravi Tyagi, AOR
Ms. Niharika Ahluwalia, AOR
Mr. M. P. Vinod, AOR
Ms. Meera Mathur, AOR
Mrs. Geetha Kovilan, AOR
Petitioner-in-person, AOR
Mr. Ravi Prakash Mehrotra, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR
Mr. Akarsh Garg, Adv.
Mr. Shaantanu Jain, Adv.
Mr. Archit Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Saksham Garg, Adv.
Mr. Subhan Shankar Gogoi, Adv.
Mr. Jyotirmoy Chatterjee, Adv.
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Mr. Akshat Shrivastava, AOR
Ms. Raakhi Poornym Sahijpal, Adv.
Ms. Uditha Chakravarthy, Adv.
Mr. Ankur S. Kulkarni, AOR
Mr. Tarun, Adv.
Mr. Devendra Singh, AOR
Mr. Prem Prakash, AOR
Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR
Mr. Gunmaya Singh Mann, Adv.
Mr. Sameer Jain, Adv.
Mr. Suvigya Awasthy, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Deepesh Raj, Adv.
Mr. Soayib Qureshi, AOR
Mr. A. Karthik, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaurasia, AOR
Mr. Shailendra Kumar Nirmal, Adv.
Ms. Satyama Dubey, Adv.
Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv.
Mr. Gautam Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR
Mr. Ashwani Kumar, AOR
Mr. Gaurav Goel, AOR
Mr. Arvind Kumar Tewari, AOR
Mr. Abhay Anand Jena, AOR
Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR
Mr. Jeetender Gupta, AOR
Mr. Shree Prakash Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Anand Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR
Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR
Mr. Ibad Mushtaq, Adv.
Ms. Akanksha Rai, Adv.
Ms. Gurneet Kaur, Adv.
Mr. Shreyas Jain, Adv.
Mr. Pranab Prakash, AOR
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Mr. Kumar Dushyant Singh, AOR
Mr. Rohit Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Shakti Singh Dhakray, Adv.
Mr. Rahul Ranjan, Adv.
Mrs. Geetha Kovilan, AOR
Ms. Priyanjali Singh, AOR
Mr. Vikramjit Bannerjee, A.S.G.
Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR
Mr. Ayush Puri, Adv.
Mrs. Praveena Gautam, Adv.
Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Mr. Siddhant Kohli, Adv.
Mrs. Nidhi Khanna, Adv.
Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Mr. Dhruv Tamta, AOR
Mr. Amit Shrivastava, AOR
Mr. Sudhir Mahajan, Adv.
Mr. Ajit Kumar Ekka, AOR
Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR
Mr. Anubhav, Adv.
Mr. Yashwant Singh Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Vijay Pal, Adv.
Mr. D N Ojha, Adv.
Mrs. Preeti Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Utsav Trivedi, Adv.
Ms. Shivani Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Ashish Yadav, Adv.
M/S. Tas Law, AOR
Mr. Prem Sunder Jha, Adv.
Ms. Manjula Gupta, AOR
Mr. Thomas Oommen, AOR
Mr. Hiresh Choudhary, AOR
Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, AOR
Dr. Vinod Kumar Tewari, AOR
Mr. Pramod Tiwari, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Tiwari, Adv.
Ms. Priyanka Dubey, Adv.
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Ms. Nidhi Jain, Adv.
Mr. Bhavya Goyal, Adv.
Ms. Archana Pandey, Adv.
Mr. Sudhansu Palo, AOR
Ms. Damyanti Juneja, Adv.
Mr. Vijay Mittal, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh Kumar Palo, Adv.
Dr. Joginder Singh Berwal, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Palo, Adv.
Mr. Nikilesh Ramachandran, AOR
Mr. Abhinay, AOR
Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR
Mr. Dhruv Surana, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Amit Sthalekar, AOR
Mr. Purnendu Bajpai, Adv.
Mr. Shashank Singh, Adv.
Ms. Amrita Sarkar , AOR
Mr. Ashish Singh, Adv.
Mr. Samir Malik, AOR
Ms. Nikita Choukse, Adv.
Mr. Tushar Mathur, Adv.
Ms. Himani Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Kausar Raza Faridi, AOR
Ms. Ritu Rajkumari, Adv.
Mr. Kripa Shankar Prasad, AOR
Ms. Snigdha Tripathi, Adv.
Mr. ML Lahoty, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Stuti Rai, Adv.
Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR
Mr. Sumit R. Sharma, AOR
Mr. Arvind Gupta, AOR
Ms. Rashi Bansal, AOR
Mr. V. K. Monga, AOR
Mr. Kaustubh Shukla, AOR
M/S. K J John And Co, AOR
Mr. Atishi Dipankar, AOR
Mr. Rajesh Tyagi, Adv.
Mr. Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Adv.
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Mr. Amit Suden, Adv.
Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR
Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR
Mr. Abdul Azeem Kalebudde, AOR
Mrs. Taherabi Kalebudde, Adv.
Mr. Ashish Prasad, Adv.
Ms. Mukta Dutta, Adv.
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Mr. Harsha Gollamudi, Adv.
Mr. Pruthvi Dhinoja, Adv.
Mr. Saurabh Agrawal, AOR
Mr. Preshit Vilas Surshe, AOR
Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR
Mrs. Kshama Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Maurya, Adv.
Mr. Anand Krishna, Adv.
Mr. Ram Bachan Choudhary, Adv.
Mr. Amrendra Singh, Adv.
Mr. P. K. Jain, AOR
Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR
Mr. Sajan Poovayya, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Vikram Hegde, Adv.
Ms. Hima Lawrence, AOR
Mr. Abhinav Hansaraman, Adv.
Ms. Raksha Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Kakkar, Adv.
Mr. Palash Maheshwari, Adv.
Mr. Ujjal Banerjee, AOR
Mr. Bharat Bhushan, AOR
Mr. Siddhartha Sinha , AOR
Ms. Anushri Singh, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Singh, AOR
Mr. Sanyat Lodha, AOR
Mr. Karuppaiah Meyyappan, Adv.
Mr. Raghunatha Sethupathy B, AOR
Mr. S.sabari Bala Pandian, Adv.
Ms. Kanika Kalaiyarasan, Adv.
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Mr. Rakesh Mittal, Adv.
Ms. Yamini Mittal, Adv.
Mr. D. Abhinav Rao, AOR
Mr. Ajay Harshana, Adv.
Ms. Diva Singh, Adv.
Mr. Anant Kumar Vatsya, Adv.
Mr. Avinash Poddar, Adv.
Mr. Ankit, Adv.
Mr. Devendra Singh, AOR
Mr. Vipin Kumar Jai, AOR
Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR
Mr. Ravi Panwar, AOR
Ms. Astha Tyagi, AOR
Ms. Tulika Mukherjee, AOR
Ms. Awantika Manohar, AOR
Mr. Govind Jee, AOR
Mr. Omanakuttan K K, Adv.
Mr. Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Adv.
M/S. Delhi Law Chambers, AOR
Mr. Shailesh Sharma, Adv.
Dr. Vijendra Singh, AOR
Mr. Kumar Abhinandan, Adv.
Mr. Deepak Goel, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
IA No. 234374/2023:
1. The instant application seeks revocation of suspension of the applicant ordered vide order dated 13.10.2021, passed by the Director General (Prisons), Delhi, which has been extended from time to time, resulting into continuous suspension of the applicant, who is currently serving in the rank of Assistant Superintendent 12 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016 (Jail) in the Delhi Prison Department.
2. The applicant (Chetram Meena) was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Jail in Central Jail No.7 of the Tihar Central Jail, Delhi. At that point in time, the ex-promoters/Directors of the Unitech Limited, viz., Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra, were lodged in that Central Jail as under-trial prisoners, w.e.f. 07.08.2020 and 17.08.2020, respectively. The applicant was, after some days, transferred from Central Jail No.7 of the Tihar Jail, Delhi to Jail No.11 of Mandoli Jail, Delhi, on 31.08.2020.
3. It may be mentioned that the above named ex- promoters/Directors of Unitech Limited and other functionaries of the Company were arrested on account of alleged large scale burglary/ misappropriation/ misuse/ siphoning etc. of the hard earned money of home buyers, who had invested in various projects launched from time to time by the Developer-cum-builder Company. There are multiple issues in relation to the Unitech, including protection of interest of thousands of home buyers, which are pending consideration before this Court in the main case.
4. Following the arrest of the said ex-promoters/Directors of the Unitech, it was brought to 13 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016 the notice of this Court that they were being extended some extraordinary facilities inside the Tihar Central Jail, Delhi, to which, they were not entitled to, as per the prescribed norms. Such an action prompted this Court to pass an order on 26.08.2021 those additional facilities which were beyond the normal course, in terms of the Jail Manual. This Court further directed the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, to make an immediate enquiry into the contents of a communication dated 16.08.2021, which was addressed to him by the Directorate of Enforcement “so that all the officers and staff of Tihar Central Jail, Delhi, who may be complicit in the violation of law, are held accountable.”
5. The Commissioner of Police submitted an enquiry report dated 28.09.2021 and in terms of its contents in paragraph 37, this Court accorded permission to conduct a full-fledged preliminary investigation against the persons mentioned therein, as also against any unknown person. It was also stated before this Court that a criminal case under Sections 7, 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, read with Sections 201/120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, shall also be registered in the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.
14 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016
6. Taking note of these disturbing events, this Court vide order dated 06.10.2021 issued the following interim directions:
“We direct that, in the meantime, the officials of Tihar Jail who have been prima facie found to be complicit in the course of the Enquiry shall be placed under suspension pending further proceedings.”
7. It was in deference to the above reproduced directions that 32 officers/officials of the Tihar Central Jail, Delhi, including the applicant (Chetram Meena) were placed under suspension, as noticed at the outset of this order.
8. As informed by learned Additional Solicitor General of India, the applicant as well as other officers/officials, who were placed under suspension, continue to be under suspension, though 4 of them have meanwhile retired from service and services of 2 of them, who were engaged contractually, have been dispensed with.
9. Learned Additional Solicitor General further informs that most of the officers/officials under suspension, have now been charge sheeted in the month of October, 2024, and thus, a regular enquiry is proposed to be conducted against them in accordance with the Central 15 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016 Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965. As regards the criminal case which was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988/Indian Penal Code, 1860, it seems that no charge sheet has been filed so far. However, we are not concerned about the status of proceedings in that case, at this stage.
10. As noticed in the beginning of this order, the prayer of the applicant is to recall the directions contained in paragraph 2 of our order dated 06.10.2021 and allow his reinstatement in service.
11. In this regard, we have heard Mr. P. Chidambaram, learned senior counsel for the applicant as well as Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, learned Additional Solicitor General of India.
12. There can hardly be any dispute that on expiry of six months period of suspension, ordinarily a Government official would become entitled to subsistence allowance at the rate of 75% of the pay, save and except when such subsistence allowance has to be denied for some valid reasons. We, thus, proceed on a premise that most of the suspended officers/officials are now receiving 75% pay without having to perform any work. Additionally, 16 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016 considering charge sheets have been issued very recently in October, 2024, we can safely infer that the conclusion of the departmental proceedings will take some reasonable time. Similarly, the criminal proceedings, pending against the suspended officials, are also not likely to reach to a logical conclusion within a short time.
13. That being so, it seems that the directions contained in paragraph 2 of the order dated 06.10.2021, if allowed to operate indefinitely, will be prejudicial to the State Exchequer and will hardly serve any purpose, until and unless the Competent Authority is of the considered opinion that the reinstatement of an official is likely to cause impediment in conducting a fair and impartial enquiry.
14. Consequently, we recall the directions contained in paragraph 2 of the order dated 06.10.2021 and leave it entirely to the discretion of the Competent Authority to examine all the cases of officers/officials, who are under suspension, pursuant to our above stated direction, and take an appropriate decision as to whether they should be reinstated or not. It goes without saying that if the Competent Authority finds that the reinstatement of any official will not be an impediment or obstruction in 17 IA NO. 234374/2023 IN C.A. NO. 10856/2016 continuation of the Departmental proceedings, such an official can be reinstated without prejudice to the outcome of the Departmental action.
15. Let the Competent Authority take an appropriate decision within a period of four weeks.
16. At the cost of repetition, it is clarified that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the alleged misconduct, if any, committed by any officer/official and/or on the merits of the criminal case registered against them. The Departmental proceedings or the said criminal cases may proceed in accordance with law as per their merits.
17. IA No. 234374/2023 stands allowed and disposed of in the above terms.
(POOJA SHARMA) (ANU BHALLA)
COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER (NSH)
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