IMPORTANT POINTS
By virtue of disciplinary proceedings being dropped, Appellant becomes entitled to claim full salary for period from date of his suspension till date of closure of departmental inquiry.

JUDGMENT

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

Leave granted.

1. The Appellant was placed under suspension on 23.10.1979 while he was working as Sorting Assistant in Railway Mail Service (RMS) at Mughalsarai, in contemplation of disciplinary proceedings on the allegations of involvement in forged payments of high value money orders. An FIR was lodged against the Appellant at Mughalsarai Police Station and the case was registered as Crime No.358 of 1979 under Section 409/420 IPC. The order of suspension was revoked on 21.10.1987 pursuant to which he joined duty and worked till 28.02.1997, when he was dismissed from service in view of his conviction under Section 409, 467 and 420 IPC. He was sentenced to imprisonment for three years. The Appellant, thereafter, filed an appeal against his conviction. The Criminal Appeal filed by the Appellant was allowed and he was acquitted of the charges for offences under Section 409, 420 and 467 IPC.

2. The request of the Appellant for reinstatement after acquittal was refused on 13.06.2002. It was mentioned in the Memo dated 13.06.2002 that the Appellant could be reinstated as he was already dismissed from service more than six years ago. The order of dismissal dated 28.02.1997 and the order of refusal to reinstate in service dated 13.06.2002 were challenged by the Appellant before the Tribunal. The Tribunal allowed the original application and directed the reinstatement of the Appellant by holding that he shall be entitled for seniority and notional fixation of pay with increments from the date of his dismissal till his reinstatement. However, the Tribunal held that the Appellant shall not be entitled for any back wages for the period during which he was not in service. Pursuant to the order of the Tribunal, the Appellant was reinstated on 20.01.2003. By an order dated 01.05.2003, the Senior Superintendent of RMS, Allahabad rejected the representation of the Appellant for full pay and allowances for the period of the suspension i.e. 23.10.1979 to 11.11.1987. The Writ Petition filed by the Appellant against the order of the Tribunal by which he was not granted back wages was partly allowed by the High Court. The High Court held that the Appellant shall be entitled to full back wages from the date of the order of his acquittal i.e. 31.08.2001 till the date of his reinstatement i.e. 20.01.2003. The Appellant is before us assailing the legality and validity of the judgment of the High Court by which the payment of back wages was restricted only to the period between the date of his acquittal and the date of his reinstatement.

3 . The learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner relied upon the judgment of this Court in Ranchhodji Chaturji Thakore v. Superintendent Engineer, Gujarat Electricity Board and Anr., 1996 (11) SCC 603 and Union of India and Others v.Jaipal Singh, 2004 (1) SCC 121 to contend that in case the criminal proceedings are initiated at the behest of the employer, and the employee is acquitted, he would be entitled to claim full wages for the period he was kept out of duty during the pendency of the criminal proceedings. He also submitted that the Appellant is entitled to full salary for the period from 1979 to 1987. He submitted that the Appellant has filed an Interlocutory Application seeking the said relief in the High Court which was not considered.

4 . Ms. Madhavi Divan, learned Additional Solicitor General contended that the Appellant is not entitled to back wages. She submitted that there was no difference between a criminal case initiated at the instance of the employer and one by the police. She also submitted that the Appellant was not entitled to any relief of payment of full back wages between 1979 to 1987 as the I.A. filed by the Appellant does not find mention in the impugned judgment of the High Court.

5 . This Court in Ranchhodji Chaturji Thakore (supra) considered the case of an employee who sought back wages for the period he was kept out of duty during the pendency of a crimi