- (1.) THE present writ petition has been filed for quashing the entire proceedings of recovery citation contained as Annexures 1 and 2 to the writ petition.
(2.) THE facts arising out of the present writ petition are that on 12-1-2006, the respondent No. 1 has issued a show cause notice to the petitioner and an allegation to that effect was made against the petitioner that the petitioner being a President of Nagar Panchayat appointed respondent No. 7 as Safai Karmachari and was paid salary amounting to Rs. 2,49,864. 00 by the Nagar Panchayat since June, 1999 to July, 2003. THE petitioner after receiving the aforesaid show cause notice has submitted an application that the petitioner is not having any relevant document in his possession, therefore, he is not able to submit proper reply and further time may be granted but in spite of the aforesaid fact, a recovery citation has been issued to the petitioner for recovery of an amount of Rs. 2,74,850. 00 plus other expenses dated 20-7-2006. The petitioner was elected as President on 27-11-1995 and continued till 25-11-2000. The respondent No. 7 was appointed as Safai Karmachari by the then Executive Officer, respondent No. 6 who is an appointing authority under the Rules. An enquiry against respondent No. 3 was conducted by the Director Local Bodies and subsequently concluded the enquiry finally and he was punished for withholding three increments. An entry to that effect was also made in his service record. As the responsibility has been fixed upon the respondent No. 6 Executive Officer, therefore, any liability of recovery of the amount can only be fixed upon the respondent No. 6 and no responsibility can be fixed upon the petitioner. Treating the show cause notice as notice under Section 81 of the Uttar Pradesh Municipality Act, 1916 the respondent has directed the recovery of the amount from the petitioner as arrears of land revenue. It has been submitted on behalf of the petitioner that treating it as tax a recovery certificate has been issued against the petitioner. The amount in question cannot be recovered from the petitioner under the Public Money (Recovery of Dues) Act, 1972. The money can only be recovered as arrears of land revenue if it has been advanced on the basis of some State Sponsored Scheme. The petitioner in no way is responsible for appointment of the respondent No. 7. The recovery citation issued against the petitioner is liable to be quashed.
(3.) THE reliance has been placed by the petitioner upon the various judgments of this Court that no recovery can be made against the petitioner as arrears of land revenue. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition. The writ petition was entertained and an interim order was granted and the respondents were granted time to file counter affidavit.;