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There was little or no progress in the departmental inquiry. on April 25, 1972 the Chief Engineer passed an order of compulsory retirement of the appellant under FR 56(j). The appellanrmade representations to various authorities, including the President of India, H against his compulsory retirement but the same was rejected Eventu-

ally, on July 20, 1972 the appellant filed a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution in the High Court challenging the validity of the order of compulsory retirement and prayed for a direction in terms of FR 54 for payment of full pay and allowances for the period of suspension and also for payment of all increments to which he was entitled. He also prayed for quashing of the departmental proceedings.

The impugned order is not as innocuous as it looks. Just as suspension of a government servant pending a departmental inquiry is not by way of punishment, so also the withholding of increments at the efficiency bar pending such inquiry. But when the High Court quashed the departmental proceedings which were pending for over 20 years with little or no progress as being wholly invalid and unfair, there was no occasion for the Department to have passed an order under FR 24 for withholding increments to the appellant at the stage of Rs.590 w.e.f. October 5, 1966 unless it was with a view to penalise him financially. As already stated, the authority competent to order reinstatement failed to make an order in terms of FR 54 after the appellant had been reinstated in service on May 25, 1970 within a reasonable time. Looking to the long lapse of time, the High Court was entitled to go into the question as to whether the appellant upon his reinstatement was entitled to the full pay and allowances to which he would have been entitled had he not been suspended. Undoubtedly, the High Court gave a direction in terms in FR 54(2) that the appellant would be entitled to his full pay and allowances as also to his increments etc. but this would be the normal increment prior to the crossing of the efficiency bar for purposes of FR 54(2). There has to be a specific order in terms of FR 25 before a government servant can be allowed to draw his increments above the efficiency bar. The Government was justified in withholding increments under FR 25 pending the departmental inquiry but after the High Court had quashed the departmental inquiry, the question whether the appellant could be deprived of his increments under FR 25 was a live issue till the controversy was settled by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance decision dated September 21, 1967. We shall first reproduce FR 25 and it is in the following terms:

"Where an efficiency bar is prescribed in a time- scale, the increment next above the bar shall not be given to a Government servant without the specific sanction of the authority empowered to withhold increment under Rule 24 or the relevant disciplinary rules applicable to the Government servant or of any other authority whom the President may,by general or special order, authorise in this behalf."

The Government of India, Ministry of Finance's decision dated September 21, 1967 as clarified by Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms Memorandum dated April 6, 1979, insofar as relevant is reproduced below:

It must follow that when a prejudicial order is made in terms of FR 25 to deprive the government servant like the appellant of his increments above the stage of efficiency bar retrospectively after his retirement, the Government has the duty to hear the concerned government servant before any order is made against him. There has to be as laid down in M. Gopala Krishna Naidu's case an objective consideration and assessment of all the relevant facts and circumstances.

We find it difficult to subscribe to the doctrine evolved by the Division Bench that if the competent authority declines to sanction the crossing of the efficiency bar of a government servant under FR 25, the Court has no jurisdiction to grant any relief. No doubt, there has to be a specific order in terms of FR 25 by the competent authority before the government servant can get the benefit of increments above the stage of efficiency bar. The stoppage of such increments at the efficiency bar during the pendency of a departmental proceeding is not by way of punishment and therefore the government servant facing a departmental inquiry is not entitled to a hearing. Ordinarily, therefore, the Court does not come into the picture at that stage. But in a case like the present where despite the fact that the departmental inquiry against the appellant had been quashed, and it has been held by the High Court that his suspension was wholly without justification.