- (1.) The petitioners have preferred this writ petition against the order dated 09.01.2007 as passed by the State Public Services Tribunal, Lucknow ('the Tribunal') in Claim Petition No. 1205 of 2004 whereby, the Tribunal has disapproved and set aside the penalization order dated 09.11.2004 passed against the claimant (respondent herein), who was working as Trade Tax Officer with the petitioners.
(2.) The relevant background aspects of the matter are that the claimant-respondent, while being posted as Trade Tax Officer, Ghazipur, was served with a charge-sheet dated 31.07.2003 on the allegations that on 09.05.2003, he allowed passage of a vehicle bearing Registration No. UP-65-H-0192 which was loaded with 300 pieces of paraffin wax weighing about 15,000 kilograms without payment of trade tax resulting in a huge revenue loss to the State. It was also alleged against the respondent that he made unauthorized alterations in the yatra-sheet so as to facilitate passage of the goods without payment of trade tax. The respondent's contention had been that the alterations were made in the yatra-sheet by the Tent Munsi and that too had been of correcting the obvious mistake in the yatra-sheet where the consignee was stated to be 'M/s Bansal Industries, G-466, Road No. 9A, Vishwakarma Industrial Area, Jaunpur' although the consignee was located at 'Jaipur' and not at 'Jaunpur'. The inquiry officer did not accept the submissions of the respondent and concluded that the alterations in the yatra-sheet had been unauthorized and resulted in loss of revenue to the State of U.P. The respondent submitted a representation before the disciplinary authority against the report of the inquiry officer but the disciplinary authority agreed with the findings of the inquiry officer and proceeded to impose the punishments in the manner that the respondent was awarded a censure entry with stoppage of five increments with temporary effect for a period of five years; and further, a recovery of a sum of Rs. 1,50,000/- was also ordered against the respondent.
(3.) On the matter being taken up before the Tribunal in the Claim Petition No. 1205 of 2004, the Tribunal took note of the crux of the matter and directed the presenting officer appearing on behalf of the present petitioners to verify, if the consignee M/s. Bansal Industries was a firm situated at 'Jaunpur'; and required an affidavit to be filed in this regard.;