JUDGMENT

Anil R. Dave, J.:-Leave granted.

2. Being aggrieved by the judgment delivered in Writ Petition (C) No. 2492 of 2010 by the High Court of Orissa, the appellant-State has filed this appeal. By virtue of the impugned judgment delivered by the High Court, the order passed by the Orissa Administrative Tribunal in O.A. No. 831 of 2006 dated 27th November, 2008 has been confirmed.

3. The facts giving rise to the present litigation, in a nutshell, are as under :

The respondent was appointed as an Inspector of Supplies on the post which had been reserved for SC/ST candidates. It was reported to the Government Authorities that, in fact, the respondent was not belonging to either SC or ST and therefore, proceedings were to be initiated against him so as to ascertain whether the information received was correct. Though the proceedings had been initiated, by an order dated 16th October, 1995, the said proceedings had been dropped. Thereafter, on 4th September, 2000, the aforesaid decision with regard to closing the proceedings under order dated 16th October, 1995 had been reconsidered and a notice was issued to the respondent with regard to initiation of the departmental proceedings.

4. The re-initiation of the proceedings had been challenged by the respondent before the Orissa Administrative Tribunal even at an earlier point of time and the Tribunal had decided the same in favour of the respondent but, at this stage, we are not concerned with the earlier proceedings and therefore, we do not refer to the same.

5. Ultimately the respondent had challenged the disciplinary proceedings initiated against him as well as the decision dated 4th September, 2000, whereby the order dated 16th October, 1995 had been reviewed and it was decided to initiate departmental proceedings against the respondent. Thereafter, by an order dated 27th November, 2008, the Orissa Administrative Tribunal decided the said case in favour of the respondent and therefore, the appellant-State had filed the above referred Writ Petition (C) No. 2492 of 2010 before the High Court, which has been finally dismissed and thus, the State of Orissa has filed this appeal.

6. The issue involved in the present litigation is with regard to powers of the Governor and the State Government Authorities in relation to review under the provisions of Rules 31 and 32 of the Orissa Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”).

7. The case of the respondent before the Tribunal as well as the High Court was that once a decision was taken on 16th October, 1995 to drop the departmental proceedings initiated against him, the said decision could not have been reviewed on 4th September, 2000. Therefore, no proceedings could have been initiated against the respondent in pursuance of the said order dated 4th September, 2000.

8. The submissions advanced before the Tribunal, the High Court and before this Court on behalf of the respondent-employee were to the effect that under Rule 31 of the Rules only the Governor has the power to take any order in review whereas under Rule 32 of the Rules, the appellate-authority can take any order into review, but in the instant case, none could have reviewed the order dated 16th October, 1995. The aforestated two Rules have been reproduced hereinbelow :-

“31. Governor’s power to review – Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, the Governor may, on his motion or otherwise, after calling for the records of the case, review any order which is made or is appealable under these rules or the rules repealed by Rule 33, and, after consultation with the Commission where such consultation is necessary –

(a) confirm, modify or set aside the order ;

(b) impose any penalty or set aside, reduce, confirm or enhance the penalty imposed by the order ;

(c) remit the case to the authority which made the order or any other authority directing such further action or inquiry as he considers proper in the circumstan