Recovery of salary without prior notice or inquiry violates principles of natural justice, rendering the action illegal and arbitrary.

ORDER :

The instant writ petition has been filed seeking the following main relief :

“to issue a Writ or Order, direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in recovering the amount of Rs.58,878/- said to have been towards oil shortage from the salary of the petitioner is illegal, arbitrary, unjust, utter violation of principles of natural justice, in violation of Regulations 11 & 12 of APSRTC Employees (CC&A) Regulation, 1967 and in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India and consequently set aside the same and to pass…..”

2. The brief case of the petitioner:

As claimed by the petitioner in the writ affidavit, he was joined in the 1^st Respondent Corporation as a Mechanic Grade -II. His services were regularized way back in the year 1991. Subsequently, he was promoted on 02.08.2008 to the post of Oil Depot Clerk from the post of ADC and posted at 3^rd respondent Depot. Petitioner further escalated as Deputy Superintendent (T) on 15.05.2016 and posted at Sattenapalle Deport, lastly transferred to the 4^th respondent Depot.

3. It is further stated that, 1^st respondent Corporation Audit team inquired about the 3^rd respondent Depot on the cause that, alleged irregularities in maintaining the oil stock relating to the old periods and traced out that, there was a shortage of 30 to 65 litres of oil and also RC oil 39 litres in the 3^rd respondent depot .The Respondent authorities quantified the loss of amount as Rs.58,878/- for shortage of oils against the petitioner.

4. The petitioner further states that, the respondent authorities on the premise that, as the petitioner was in charge of the oil wing of the corporation, they came to the conclusion that, the petitioner was responsible for shortage of oil and straight away deducted an amount of Rs 2,500/- from the salary of the petitioner. The said fact was noticed by the petitioner on seeing his December, 2016 monthly pay slip only. In Nutshell, the Sum and substances of the case of the petitioner is that, the respondent corporation authorities without issuing any prior notice or conducting an enquiry and without crystalising the petitioner’s specific role in the alleged shortage of oils, unilaterally proposing on their own and deducting the partial amount from the petitioner’s salary is illegal, arbitrary and also contrary to the regulations 11 &12 of APSRTC Employees (CC&A) Regulation,1967 besides violation of principles of natural justice.

5. The Brief case of the Respondents Corporation:

The Respondents Corporation filed it’s counter admitting the petitioner’s appointment and his promotion and also his place of works etc. The respondents Corporation mainly contended that, as the petitioner is the only responsible person for maintenance of stocks of oil, while he was discharging his duties as Depot Clerk(Oils). Thus, recovery was affected in the monthly salary of December, 2016 payable on 01.01.2017 (1 month advance in recovery).

6. It is relevant to note that, this Court on 15.2.2017 granted interim stay against the recovery of amounts from the salary of the petitioner. The said interim orders are still subsisting as now also.

7. Heard, the learned counsel for the petitioner Sri V.Padmanabha Rao, as well learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents at length and also gone through the material on record.

8. Consideration of the Court:

Admittedly, the petitioner is an employee working in the 1^st respondent Corporation. The 1^st Respondent Corporation employees conditions of services comes under the ambit of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation Employees (Classification, Control and Appeal) Regulations, 1967. For the sake of ready reference, the relevant regulations are extracted here under:

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation

Employees (Classification, Control and Appeal) Regulations, 1967.

PART – IV

Discipline – Penalties

8. Penalties:

(1) The following penalties may, for good and sufficie