- (1.) This petition by Ram Singh, son of Late Phool Singh, questions the legality of the punishment order dated 29.9.1987 Annexure-11-A as communicated through the letter of the same date (Annexure-11) as also the appellate order dated 17.11.1987 intimated through the letter dated 1.1.1988 whereby the appeal filed by the petitioner against the punishment order has been dismissed on the ground of being barred by time. The petitioner has been punished on the charge that his real name was Gyan Singh and that in order to obtain employment as a constable in the Railway Protection Force, he impersonated himself as Ram Singh and utilized the educational Certificates and other documents of his elder brother Ram Singh surreptitiously, who was employed in the Army. This charge of deploying the documents of his elder brother for obtaining employment in the fake and impersonated name of Ram Singh was brought home by the respondents after holding an inquiry and ultimately the petitioner was removed from service with immediate effect. The petitioner preferred an Appeal which was promptly rejected as time barred without entertaining the contentions raised by the petitioner on merits.
(2.) The services of the petitioner are governed by the Railway Protection Force Act read with Railway Protection Force Rules, 1959. He entered into service on 4.4.1965 at the age of 20 years. The disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the petitioner on a complaint made by one Shivpal Singh, who is a resident of the same village and is alleged to be on inimical terms with the petitioner's family. This complaint emanated after almost 20 years of service by the petitioner in the year 1986.
(3.) On receipt of this complaint, the respondent - authority instituted a preliminary inquiry and one Hari Vilas Dubey, an Officer or the Railway Protection Force proceeded to hold the preliminary inquiry. The inquiry by Mr. Dubey was made after allegedly obtaining the statements of the complainant, one Ved Singh who is alleged to be the real uncle of the complainant and Hem Singh, the elder brother of the petitioner. The report of the preliminary inquiry is Annexure-1 to the writ petition in which it is alleged that on the material collected it was necessary to hold a detailed inquiry as the petitioner appears to have obtained the employment by utilising the documents of Ram Singh son of Phool Singh who was employed in the Army as a Soldier of the Rajput Regiment stationed at Fatehgarh. The said preliminary inquiry report also indicates that some oral information was also provided by the Rajput Regiment Centre. Accordingly, the Officer recommended that in view of the information received, the petitioner Ram Singh, who was posted as a cash guard at Izzat Nagar deserves to be subjected to an inquiry.;