A government employee cannot be denied pensionary benefits unless there are charges or charge memo or charge sheet filed against him under Rules 9(2)(a) and 9(6) of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980.

ORDER :

1. This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the following relief:

“To issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the Respondents in not granting Pension, Gratuity and other Retirement Benefits to the Petitioner, even though no disciplinary/ criminal proceedings are pending against him as illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently, direct the Respondents to release Pension, Gratuity and other Retirement Benefits to the Petitioner forthwith, in accordance with Rules and Law and to pass such other orders.”

2. The present Writ Petition is filed for non-payment of pensionary benefits to the petitioner on attaining the age of superannuation on the ground that disciplinary cases pending against him, relying on Article 351A of the Pension Code and Rule 9(2)(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, after retirement of the petitioner.

3. The case of the petitioner is that he was appointed as Assistant Executive Engineer on 13.05.1985 in the Panchayat Raj Department, and thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Deputy Executive Engineer on 01.10.1994 and Executive Engineer (In-charge) on 13.04.2010 and regularly promoted in the year 2018 and he was promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer on 22.02.2019 and placed as In-charge Chief Engineer/Joint Secretary on 01.07.2019 and he was finally promoted as CE/JS regularly on 31.08.2019 and worked as such till his retirement on attaining the age of superannuation on 31.08.2020. The Government has issued G.O.Rt. No. 762, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (E.I) Department dated 30.12.2019, whereunder the orders were issued regarding retirement of certain Engineers, on attaining the age of superannuation during the year 2020 and the petitioner and others were permitted to retire from service without prejudice to the disciplinary cases pending against them and also subject to the condition that the disciplinary proceedings shall continue against them under Rule 9(2)(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, after their retirement. Thereafter, the petitioner herein has made a representation dated 30.01.2020 to delete the condition in paragraph No. 2 of the said G.O. dated 30.12.2019. As no orders are passed against the said representation, the present Writ Petition came to be filed seeking a direction to the respondents for release of the pensionary benefits on the ground that no disciplinary proceedings are pending against him on the date of retirement under Rule 9(2)(a) of the Andhra Pradesh Revised Pension Rules, 1980, and he has not committed any irregularity as alleged in the disciplinary proceedings.

4. Learned counsel for the respondents filed counter and he would submit that G.O.Rt. No. 762, Panchcayat Raj and Rural Development (Estt.I) Department dated 30.12.2019, was issued permitting the petitioner and another individual to retire from service on 31.08.2020 without prejudice to the disciplinary proceedings against him. The contention of the learned counsel for the respondents is that the petitioner has allowed one Sri D.Ramesh Kumar, AEE, PR, Dattaluru Mandal, SPSR Nellore District, beyond his date of superannuation, i.e. the actual date of superannuation on 31.07.2013 and he has been continued in service till the date of ACB trap on 28.11.2016, wherein he was shown as Accused Officer No. 1. The Government, vide G.O.Rt. No. 384, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (Vig.II) Department dated 15.07.2021, accorded sanction for initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner and others under Rule 24 of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991, and vide G.O.Ms. No. 51, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (Vig.II) Department dated 15.07.2021 and G.O.Rt. No. 394, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (Vig.II)