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On 04.01.2008, however, the appellant submitted his resignation and the resignation was accepted by the President of the SGPC by order dated 04.01.2008. The appellant then made a representation complaining that his resignation was obtained by coercion and misrepresentation and by order dated 28.02.2008 issued by the Secretary of the SGPC, the order dated 04.01.2008 of the President of the SGPC accepting the resignation of the appellant was cancelled and the appellant was relieved from service on the ground that the resolution of the Executive Committee adopted on 01.01.2008 to reinstate the appellant in service was not confirmed by the Executive Committee in the meeting on 18.02.2008. Aggrieved by the order dated 28.02.2008 issued by the Secretary, SGPC, relieving the appellant from service, the appellant filed writ petition, CWP No.5587 of 2008, before the High Court. By the impugned order dated 03.04.2008, the High Court dismissed the writ petition after holding that the appellant had not only defamed the SGPC but also brought a bad name to the entire community and the order dated 28.02.2008 relieving the appellant from service had been rightly passed.

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7. The first question which we are called upon to decide in this case is whether the appellant had resigned from the post of Assistant Secretary of the SGPC or whether his services were terminated by the Executive Committee of the SGPC. It appears from Annexure R-2 annexed to the reply of the respondent that on 04.01.2008 the appellant had submitted his resignation to the President of the SGPC and it further appears from the Annexure R-3 annexed to the reply of the respondent that the resignation of the appellant had been accepted by the President of the SGPC, but on 28.02.2008 the Secretary of the SGPC issued an order stating that the Executive Committee of the SGPC in its resolution no. 173 dated 18.02.2008 cancelled the order dated 04.01.2008 of the President accepting the resignation of the appellant. The order dated 28.02.2008 of the Secretary of the SGPC extracted hereinbelow:-

S/d Secretary, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Sri Amritsar"

Only the Executive Committee of the SGPC has the statutory power under Section 69 of the Act, to remove any employee of the SGPC. Therefore the acceptance of the resignation of the appellant by the President of the SGPC is of no legal consequence. Moreover, the fact remains that the Executive Committee of the SGPC has cancelled the order dated 04.01.2008 of the President of the SGPC accepting the resignation of the appellant and has instead relieved the appellant from service. We are thus of the considered opinion that this was not a case of resignation from service by the appellant but of termination of service of the appellant by the Executive Committee of the SGPC.

8. The second question which we have to decide in this case is whether the termination of service of the appellant by the Executive Committee of the SGPC by resolution dated 18.02.2008 was legally valid. The order dated 28.02.2008 issued by the Secretary, SGPC quoted above does not state the reasons for the decision of the Executive Committee taken in the meeting held on 18.02.2008 to relieve the appellant from service. No counter affidavit was filed by the SGPC before the High Court in reply to the writ petition. It appears from the impugned order that the writ petition was dismissed in limine by the High Court after the counsel for the SGPC placed before the High Court the cuttings of the local dailies `Punjab Kesari' and `Jag Bani' both of 04.01.2008 containing photographs of the appellant in embarrassing positions with a woman. In the reply filed in this Court, the SGPC has stated in para 5 that the appellant was working on an important post of Assistant Secretary of the SGPC and was supposed to maintain highest standards and that the High Court has therefore correctly passed the order maintaining the termination of the appellant. In para 6 of the reply, the respondent has further stated that since the appellant has himself admitted his guilt in the writ petition filed by him, he cannot claim any violation of his right to natural justice and no prejudice has been caused to him. From these facts, it is clear that the appellant was terminated from service by way of punishment for allegations of misconduct. Hence, this is not a case of termination simpliciter but a dismissal for misconduct.