- (1.) Heard counsel for the parties.
(2.) Petitioner who is an incumbent of the Jharkhand Agriculture Service Cadre, was proceeded against in a Departmental Proceeding bearing Memo No. 5301 dated 10.08.2009 for certain charges by the respondent-Agriculture and Sugarcane Development Department. He was also placed under suspension. One Mr. Nitin Madan Kulkarni, IAS, Director, Welfare, Government of Jharkhand, was appointed as an Inquiry Officer. A supplementary charge sheet was also served upon the petitioner containing eight charges on 03.10.2009 which is also part of Annexure-1. The original charge sheet contains seven charges. Inquiry Report was submitted by the Inquiry Officer on 30.08.2010 which is enclosed as Annexure-2 to the writ application. Out of the seven charges in the original charge sheet, four were found to be fully established, while one was found to be partially proved. Out of the eight supplementary charges, five were found to be fully established while one was found to be partially proved. Thereafter, deliberation have taken place in the department leading to issuance of the second show-cause notice enclosing the copy of the Inquiry Report vide Memo No. 3357 dated 02.09.2015 (Annexure-16). According to the second show-cause notice, on account of serious charges of irregularities of grave nature found to have been established against the petitioner, a decision has been taken to dismiss him from service.
(3.) Petitioner has challenged the entire Departmental Proceedings and also the second show-cause notice. One fact which needs to be noticed here is that the petitioner was also proceeded in a Vigilance Case No. 37/2010 relating to execution of the project of Soil Health Smart Card. Vigilance Bureau has submitted a final form on 06.02.2015 bearing no. 5/2015 with a finding that the petitioner has not been found to have caused any wrongful gain or loss in execution of the said project, nor any deviation of Government rules or misuse of Government money. The Special Court of Vigilance has accepted the final form after notice to the informant by order dated 03.07.2015 (Annexure-14).;