- (1.) INSTANT petition has been filed assailing order of the Central Administrative Tribunal dt. 23/08/2012.
(2.) IT is a second inning of the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the petitioner in which he was held guilty for charge No. 1, 3 and 7 and earlier he was punished vide order dt. 03/11/2008 and the penalty of reduction of pay by two stages in the time scale of pay for a period of three years was inflicted and that was subject matter of challenge by filing of OA No. 4/2009 before Central Administrative Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench and by order dt.30/10/2009 the Ld. Tribunal, while quashing the order of penalty, remanded the matter back to the disciplinary authority to re -look the proceedings and pass fresh order in accordance with law without being influenced by the consultation earlier made with the CVC and UPSC while inflicting penalty against the petitioner.
(3.) AFTER the matter was remitted back to the disciplinary authority, a fresh opportunity of hearing was afforded to the petitioner and after consultation with the CVC and UPSC afresh, which is in compliance of the scheme of the disciplinary rules and keeping in view the observation of the Tribunal, the disciplinary authority finally held him guilty for charge No. 1, 3 and 7 and punished him vide order dt.18/07/2011 with the penalty of "reduction of pay by two stages in the time scale of pay for a period of three years with further direction that he will not earn increments of pay during the period of such reduction and on the expiry of such period, the reduction will not have the effect of postponing the future increments of his pay." At the very outset, we find from the records that in the charge -sheet dt. 13/9/2004 served upon the delinquent -petitioner, in all there were 7 charges against him of committing gross misconduct and out of 7 charges, charge No. 1, 3 and 7 were found to be proved against him and it will be appropriate to quote the relevant charges of misconduct levelled against the petitioner which finally stood proved and is the basis for initiating penalty upon him, ad -infra: - "(i) That the said Shri O.P. Gupta issued NIT dated 25/05/2000 for purchase of RCC Pipes without finalizing the mandatory tender documents. (iii) That the said NIT dated 25/05/2000 was not given wide publicity to avoid free and fair competition. (vii) That the said Shri O.P. Gupta malafidely reduced requirement from 45,838 meters in NIT dated 25/05/2000 to 37,251 meters in NIT 1.8.2000. Further Shri O.P. Gupta on 08/09/2000 once again reiterated before Shri Arun Kumar, the then GMT(S), Udaipur the scope of requirement as 45,838 meters." ;