VINAYAK PANDEY Vs. STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present writ petition has been filed to direct the respondents to forward the pension papers of the petitioner herein for sanction and payment of the gratuity amount, earned leave and balance amount of pension. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner retired from the post of District Programme Officer, Buxar with effect from 30/6/2017. It is the further case of the petitioner that while he was posted as Area Education Officer, Buxar, in between the period July, 2008 to March, 2010 and was holding charge of Mid Day Meal Scheme, he had received a letter from the District Superintendent of Education, Buxar dtd. 9/1/2010 to the effect that it had been informed by the Block Education Officer, Rajpur that in the C.R.C. Building of Middle School, Rajpur, huge quantity of rice of Mid Day Meal had been kept under lock by the then Block Education Officer since several years and had become rotten as also was smelling and the Headmaster was insisting for vacating the building. It is also stated that at that moment of time one Shri Ramesh Paswan had just been posted as the Sub-Divisional Education Officer with effect from 10/12/2009 and as per the direction of the R.D.D.E., Patna and the District Education Officer, Buxar, the petitioner had handed over the charge of Mid Day Meal Scheme to the said Ramesh Paswan, whereafter the said Ramesh Paswan had filed one complaint before the learned Lokayukta on 5/3/2010 with mala fide intentions, leveling false allegations against the petitioner herein leading to registration of Complaint No. 1/Lok (Shiksha) 45/2010 whereupon investigation was also ordered by the learned Lokyakuta. Subsequently, the said Ramesh Paswan had also sent a complain to the District Magistrate, Buxar, who had got the allegations enquired through the Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, Buxar and after enquiry, the Deputy Collector, Land Reforms, Buxar had submitted a report vide letter dtd. 31/1/2011 stating therein that the rice was kept under lock in the hall of the school since 2006 while one Shri Ravindra Ram was posted there as the Block Education Officer, Rajpur and after his transfer in the year 2007 one Shri Suresh Kumar Singh had taken charge, whereafter in the month of July, 2008, the petitioner was posted as Area Education Officer, Buxar and he was made In-Charge of the Mid Day Meal Scheme of the District. Later on, the District Magistrate, Buxar held that Shri Ravindra Ram and Shri Suresh Kumar Singh, the then Block Education Officer, Rajpur, respectively were responsible for rotting of the rice apart from the various Area Education Officers posted at Buxar from time to time, including the petitioner herein. Thereafter, a show cause notice was also issued to the petitioner dtd. 16/2/2011, as to why the amount of loss, on account of rotting of rice be not realized from the petitioner, to which the petitioner had filed his reply, however, thereafter no action was taken against the petitioner.

(2.) In the meantime, pursuant to the complaint lodged before the learned Lokayukta, the District Education Officer, Buxar got the matter investigated through the then In-Charge Officer, Mid Day Meal Scheme, who submitted his enquiry report dtd. 25/6/2014 to the District Education Officer, Buxar and in the said enquiry report, the petitioner was absolved of all the charges levelled against him but he mischievously mentioned that the petitioner was responsible for rotting of the rice stored in the school despite the fact that no such allegation had been levelled against the petitioner in the complaint made before the learned Lokayukta. The learned Lokayukta vide his order dtd. 20/11/2017, had adjourned the matter so as to enable the respondent State authorities to realize the loss amount from the petitioner and one Shri Suresh Prasad Singh, whereafter the petitioner had approached the learned Lokayukta for modification of the said order dtd. 20/11/2017, whereupon the learned Lokayukta by his order dtd. 16/2/2018, had made an observation that deposit of price of damaged rice by the petitioner would be subject to any order being passed by the competent authority and in case the same is in favor of the petitioner, the amount so deposited shall be refunded to the petitioner. The petitioner had then deposited a sum of Rs.1,82,448.00 and simultaneously had challenged the order and jurisdiction of the learned Lokayukta by filing a writ petition bearing CWJC No. 20894 of 2018, which is pending adjudication before this Court. The petitioner has further stated in the writ petition that on account of local politics and enmity, the petitioner was made accused in a criminal case bearing Vigilance P.S. Case No. 87 of 2017, on the basis of false and frivolous allegations and the petitioner has already filed a petition bearing Criminal Misc. No. 40001 of 2018 for quashing of the same.

(3.) It is the case of the petitioner that though after his retirement, he has been paid 90 per cent pension, group insurance amount and provident fund amount, however, he has not been paid earned leave of 300 days and gratuity apart from other dues admissible to him without any rhyme or reason. The learned counsel for the petitioner has relied upon a judgment rendered in the case of Shambhu Saran vs. State of Bihar, reported in 2000(1) PLJR 665 as also upon a judgment rendered by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of Jharkhand & Ors. vs. Jitendra Kumar Shrivastava & Anr, reported in (2013) 12 SCC 210, to contend that despite pendency of criminal or departmental proceeding, no amount of leave encashment, gratuity and pension can be withheld by the respondent State.