- (1.) The appellant herein is an employee of Food Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as FCI). The Senior Regional Manager, FCI being the disciplinary authority issued chargesheet to the appellant herein on 5th August, 1997 for issuing release orders of 236 quintals of sugar against false/fictitious indents to one wholesale distributor namely, M/s. Sree Durga Trading Centre, Rajnagar, Birbhum.
(2.) The appellant-writ petitioner while working in the district office of Food Corporation of India at Suri, Birbhum during the period from April, 1995 to July, 1996 issued the release orders for 236 quintals of levy sugar in favour of Sree Durga Trading Centre. It has been alleged that the said release orders were issued by the appellant without verifying the signatures on the indents made by the indent issuing authority and the dealing authority of the indent section. An anonymous complaint alleging the release of sugar illegally from the Food Storage Depot was received by the then District Manager-in-Charge, Food Corporation of India. On enquiry it revealed that the indents in question were not issued by the competent authority. Accordingly, First Information Report was lodged with the police. Thereafter, the appellant-writ petitioner was placed under suspension. However, the said order of suspension was subsequently revoked by the competent authority upon considering the prayer of the appellant herein. From the records we also find that the appellant-writ petitioner submitted reply to the charge sheet. A common proceeding was held against the petitioner and other charged officials. The Enquiry Officer submitted the enquiry report after conclusion of the enquiry proceeding. Thereafter, the Disciplinary Authority passed the final order in respect of the appellant-writ petitioner imposing the penalty of reduction in rank in Assistant Grade-II at the minimum of the stage of the scale. The appellant-writ petitioner preferred an appeal against the aforesaid final order of punishment and the appellate authority rejected the said appeal upon confirming the penalty imposed by the Disciplinary Authority.
(3.) The appellant-writ petitioner thereafter filed the writ petition before this Court challenging the aforesaid final order of punishment passed by the Disciplinary Authority and the subsequent order passed by the Appellate Authority rejecting the appeal preferred from the said order of the Disciplinary Authority. The aforesaid writ petition was ultimately dismissed by the learned Single Judge in absence of the learned counsel of the respective parties. The said learned Single Judge while dismissing the writ petition held that the grounds mentioned in the writ petition by the appellant herein are based on disputed question of facts and the same cannot be decided in an application filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.;