- (1.) The petitioner herein being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the continuance of the order of suspension filed an application before the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Calcutta Bench which was finally dismissed on merits by the judgment and order dated 30th October, 2009.
(2.) The petitioner was initially appointed as Additional Divisional Engineer, Telecom in the year 1984 and thereafter, promoted to the post of Senior Administrative Grade and posted as General Manager with effect from 16th December, 2002. The said petitioner while working as General Manager, Kharagpur Telecom District was placed under deemed suspension by the order dated 29th December, 2008 under Rule 10(2) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as "CCS(CCA) Rules, 1965") with effect from 19th November, 2008.
(3.) The said suspension order was thereafter, reviewed and extended for a further period of 180 days which was mentioned in the order dated 26th March, 2009 issued by the Under Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Telecommunications. It has been urged on behalf of the petitioner that the suspension order initially issued to the said petitioner was not extended after review within a period of 90 days from the effective date of suspension and, therefore, the subsequent extension of the suspension order by the concerned authority cannot be sustained in the eye of law in view of violation of the specific provision of Rule 10(7) of the CCS(CCA) Rules, 1965. For the purpose of effectively deciding the issues raised in this appeal, the provisions of Rule 10(2), (5), (6) and (7) of Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965 are set out hereunder: "10. Suspension.-(1)___________ (2) A Government Servant shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension by an order of appointing authority,- (a) with effect from the date of his detention, if he is detained in custody, whether on a criminal charge or otherwise, for a period exceeding fortyeight hours; (b) with effect from the date of his conviction, if, in the event of a conviction for an offence, he is sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding forty-eight hours and is not forthwith dismissed or removed or compulsorily retired consequent to such conviction. Explanation. - The period of forty-eight hours referred to in clause (b) of this sub-rule shall be computed from the commencement of the imprisonment after the conviction and for this purpose, intermittent periods of imprisonment, if any, shall be taken into account. (3) * * * * (4) * * * * (5) (a) Subject to the provisions contained in sub-rule (7), any order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule shall continue to remain in force until it is modified or revoked by the authority competent to do so. (b) Where a Government Servant is suspended or is deemed to have been suspended (whether in connection with any disciplinary proceeding or otherwise), and any other disciplinary proceeding is commenced against him during the continuance of that suspension, the authority competent to place him under suspension may, for reasons to be recorded by him in writing, direct that the Government Servant shall continue to be under suspension until the termination of all or any of such proceedings. (c) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule may, at any time, be modified or revoked by the authority which made or is deemed to have made the order or by any authority to which that authority is subordinate. (6) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule shall be reviewed by the authority which is competent to modify or revoke the suspension [before expiry of ninety days from the effective date of suspension] on the recommendation of the Review Committee constituted for the purpose and pass orders either extending or revoking the suspension. Subsequent reviews shall be made before expiry of the extended period of suspension. Extension of suspension shall not be for a period exceeding one hundred and eighty days at a time. (7) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under sub-rule (1) or (2) of this rule shall not be valid after a period of ninety days unless it is extended after review, for a further period before the expiry of ninety days. Provided that no such review of suspension shall be necessary in the case of deemed suspension under sub-rule (2), if the Government servant continues to be under suspension at the time of completion of ninety days of suspension and the ninety days ' period in such case will count from the date of Government servant detained in custody is released from detention or the date on which the fact of his release from detention is intimated to his appointing authority, whichever is later.";