- (1.) Heard learned Counsel for the parties. It is not a matter of dispute that the Petitioner was an employee of the Public Works Department. Accordingly, the Public Works Department was the Petitioner's parent department. His services were lent to the Rural Development Department by way of deputation.
(2.) The misconduct committed by the Petitioner, was while he was discharging duties in the Rural Development Department. The question that arises for consideration is, whether the Petitioner ought to have been punished by the competent authority from the Public Works Department i.e. the Petitioner's parent department, or from the Rural Development Department i.e. the department to which the services of the Petitioner were lent.
(3.) It is the contention of the learned Counsel for the Petitioner, that the determination of the competent authority has to be with reference to Rule 16, of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules (hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules'). Rule 16 abovementioned is being extracted hereunder: "16. Where a person to be punished has been lent to the punishing authority-- (i) the power to impose the penalty of compulsory retirement or removal or dismissal, shall not lie with any authority other than the lending authority; the borrowing authority shall, in a case where it considers that the punishment of compulsory retirement, removal or dismissal should be imposed, complete the inquiry and revert the person concerned to the lending authority for such action as that authority may consider necessary: Provided that the provision in this clause requiring the reversion of the person concerned to the lending authority shall not apply where the person has been lent by one department to another and both the departments are under the same administrative authority; and (ii) unless in any case it be otherwise provided by specific orders by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, the punishing authority shall consult the lending authority before imposing any lesser penalty and in the case of suspension shall report forthwith to the lending authority the circumstances leading to the imposition of that penalty. Explanation.- For the purpose of this rule, a clerk of the Secretariat or of the Board of Revenue or of the other Government Offices in the City of Chennai deputed to Tamil Nadu Ministerial Service for training as a Revenue Inspector or a Superintendent of the Secretariat or of the Board of Revenue or of the other Government Offices in the City of Chennai deputed to the Tamil Nadu Revenue Subordinate Service for training in the districts shall be deemed to be a person lent." A perusal of the above-extracted Rule reveals, that it is the parent department of the concerned employee alone, which can pass an order of penalty including an order of compulsory retirement, removal or dismissal from service.;