- (1.) THE special appeal is from a judgment and order of the learned Single Judge dated 19 December 2014 by which a writ petition filed by the appellant under Article 226 of the Constitution has been dismissed.
(2.) THE appellant was a Constable in the State Police. He was initially appointed on 1 July 1974 and continued to serve until 20 November 1996 when he was dismissed from service under Rule 8(2)(b) of the U.P. Police Officers of the Subordinate Ranks (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1991. The dismissal was on the basis of a report dated 31 October 1996 finding that the appellant had been noticed to be under the influence of liquor on 23 September 2006 and to have misbehaved in that condition. Admittedly, no disciplinary enquiry was held. The appellant filed a writ petition challenging the order of dismissal. The writ petition was allowed by a learned Single Judge of this Court on 25 August 2004 and the order of dismissal was set aside. There was a consequential direction for reinstatement in service with continuity and full back wages. The operative order of the learned Single Judge was as follows: "In the result, the writ petition is allowed and the impugned order dated 20.11.1996, 29.5.1997 and 22.6.1999 are quashed and the respondents are directed to reinstate the petitioner with continuity of service and with full back wages. It is however open to the disciplinary authority to initiate a departmental inquiry after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner under Rule 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Police Officers of the Subordinate Ranks (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1991."
(3.) ON 15 September 2005, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur issued directions to the effect that the appellant would be paid only 51% of his back wages from the date of his dismissal until his reinstatement in service which took place on 25 October 2014. The appellant filed a contempt application. The contempt application remained pending for nearly four years before this Court until it was dismissed on 20 January 2011. The contempt application was dismissed by a learned Single Judge on 20 January 2011 on the ground that the contempt application which was filed on 28 February 2007 was beyond a period of one year from the date of the order. The appellant then filed a writ petition, seeking to challenge the order dated 16 October 2004 by which it was stated that though the appellant was being reinstated in service, the direction for the payment of back wages would be issued separately; an order dated 22 November 2004, recording a censure entry and an order dated 15 September 2005 recording that the appellant would be entitled to only 51% of the back wages. All the orders had been passed by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Saharanpur. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition on 19 December 2014, holding that a second writ petition filed for the enforcement of the order passed in the earlier writ petition was not maintainable, particularly when the contempt application had been dismissed. The learned Single Judge also held that there was a delay in filing the second writ petition and in challenging the orders of 16 October 2004, 22 November 2004 and 15 September 2005 after a lapse of seven years.;