ORDER :

Nyapathy Vijay, J.

1. The present Writ Petition is filed questioning the Proceedings issued by Respondent No.2 vide RC.No.16514/2016/A&DC-3(1) dated 03.05.2024 against the Petitioner imposing major penalty of compulsory retirement with two-thirds of invalid pension and gratuity and further treating the suspension period ‘not on duty’, as illegal and arbitrary.

2. The facts in brief are as follows;

The Petitioner while working as Forest Range Officer, Rampachodavaram, was issued a Charge-Memorandum under Rule 20 of Andhra Pradesh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991 (for short “the A.P.C.S. Rules, 1991”) on 13.02.2017, whereunder five (5) Articles of Charges were framed against the Petitioner. The Article of Charge-I is with regard to misconduct and violation of the agreement conditions and allowing the contractors to transport the Eucalyptus pulpwood without making payment of full sale amount to an extent of Rs.68,52,881/- and also by adjusting 1/4^th deposits to an extent of Rs.52,72,567/- without previous permission from the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru.

3. The further part of the Article of Charge-I was that the Petitioner had failed to ensure the payment of other taxes like 5% VAT and 2.5% Income Tax and also failed to report the factum of non-payment of full sale amount and taxes etc., to the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru in order to calculate the penal interest etc., and as such the total loss sustained by the Government is Rs.1,02,89,266/-

4. The Article of Charge-II was that the Petitioner failed to follow the agreement conditions such as approval of the route prescribed for the transport of pulpwood material and that the Petitioner issued Form-I permits to the subordinates for issuing to the contractor for lifting of material from the plantation site directly to final destination and that the Petitioner has issued Form-I permits instead of Form-II permits as per the sale agreement conditions.

5. The Article of Charge-III was that the Petitioner failed to issue Demand notice to the Contractors and failed to submit progress of quantum of Eucalyptus pulpwood extracted, transported and the amounts collected from the Contractors to the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru. The Article of Charge-IV was that the Petitioner failed to maintain records as per the guidelines such as Daily Felling Register and Lotwar Register etc., and the Article of Charge-V was that the Petitioner had exhibited gross negligence of duty and committed grave irregularities.

6. It is further stated that the list of documents and the list of witnesses were furnished to substantiate the Articles of Charges in Annexures-I & IV of the Charge-Sheet respectively. The Petitioner submitted a detailed explanation on 28.02.2017 denying the allegations made against him stating that the Petitioner himself has reported the facts to the Divisional Forest Officer, Eluru on 14.07.2016 and requested to take further action against Sri G. Vijaya Sekhar, Deputy Range Officer, Nallajerla and Sri T. Venkateswara Rao, Forest Section Officer, Yerraguntapalli vide letter in Rc.No.491/2015, dated 14.07.2016.

7. It is further stated that in the course of Range level review meetings conducted by the Petitioner, the Petitioner used to instruct the staff to submit weekly progress reports on extraction and transportation and issued memos to the Deputy Range Officer, Nallajerla and Forest Section Officers, Chintalapudi and Yerraguntapalli Sections respectively. Copies of the Memos dated 08.02.2016, 02.03.2016 and 5.05.2016 respectively were submitted along with the explanation.

8. It is also stated that the contractors have paid all the balance sale amounts by online deposits and requested to adjust the security deposits paid for which the extraction of plantations were not commenced. The VAT and IT amounts were also adjusted in the Divisional accounts. The details of the remittances were furnished along with the explanation. It is also stated that the