- (1.) CHALLENGE in this writ petition has been made to an order dated April 8, 1983 (Annexure-4) passed by the Regional Manager, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, Ajmer for termination of the service of petitioner on the basis of departmental inquiry held against him.
(2.) THE facts of the case lie in a very narrow compass. The petitioner who was serving as a conductor in the service of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (for short 'the Corporation') was suspended on July 9, 1982. A charge sheet dated July 9, 1982 was served upon him for a departmental inquiry. By an order dated August 20, 1982 of the Regional Manager, Ajmer, Regional Depot Manager was appointed as Inquiry Officer. Inquiry proceedings were fixed on September 21, 1982, October 7, 1982, October 20, 1982, November 6, 1982, November 19, 1982, December 10, 1982, December 23, 1982, January 17, 1983, February 4, 1983 and February 14, 1983. The petitioner attended the inquiry on February 14, 1983 also. According to him he was told by the Inquiry Officer that no proceeding will be taken on that day and he will be intimated of the next date. No further date was however intimated to the petitioner. Instead, he was served with the order dated April 8, 1983. In between this period the petitioner had been reinstated on February 3, 1983. The petitioner has stated that he was never served with a copy of the inquiry report either before passing of the order of punishment or after communication of it He was not given any notice of the inquiry report nor any show cause notice proposing the penalty of removal from service was given to him. The petitioner's assertion is that the inquiry officer had made a false note about his absence on February 14, 1983 and submitted his report.
(3.) NO reply to the writ petition has been filed by the respondent-Corporation even though the writ petition remained pending before the Court for over eight years. Shri Ashok Choudhary, learned counsel for non-petitioner has however produced before me the inquiry file. The proceedings of the inquiry file show that the petitioner was present on October 7, 1982, October 22, 1982, December 10, 1982, December 23, 1982, January 17, 1983 and February 4, 1983. On February 14, 1983 he has been shown to be absent. In the order sheet of January 17, 1983 although the signatures of the petitioner appear but he has been marked as absent. Along with the writ petition the petitioner has produced Amiexure-3 to show that he was present during the inquiry proceedings on February 14, 1983 and that a certificate to this effect was given by the inquiry officer himself. When attention of Shri Ashok Choudhary, learned counsel for respondent-Corporation, was drawn to the signatures of the inquiry officer on Annexure-3, he admitted that the inquiry officer had signed the said document showing the presence of the petitioner. That document in fact contains the following note: "attended DE on February 14, 1983" Below this note the inquiry officer has appended his signatures. Therefore the petitioner's assertion that he had in fact attended the inquiry proceeding on February 14, 1983 has to be accepted as correct, particularly when no reply has been filed by the non-petitioner to controvert this specific assertion of the petitioner.;