Shiva Kirti Singh, J.

1. The prayer made in this writ application is to quash the impugned order contained in Annexure-1 dated 30-3-2001 by which a punishment of withholding 10% of pension for a period of two years had been awarded to the petitioner, who is a retired Superintending Engineer of the Department of Water Resources, Government of Bihar.

2. The relevant facts for decision in this case are that petitioner took charge as Superintending Engineer in Eastern Kosi Embankment Circle, Saharsa on 7-6-1996 and continued in charge till 3-2-1997. Therefore, in April 1998 a Flying Squad inspected some of the work sites which were previously under the charge of the petitioner during the periods mentioned above and made a report. On that basis, on 12-8-1998 a show-cause notice was given to the petitioner, a copy whereof has been annexed as Annexure-3. The charge pointed out in the show-cause notice was to the effect that 13 estimates had remained pending and were forwarded to the Chief Engineer on 18-2-1996 after delay and that petitioner had not made sufficient inspection. Thus, the substance of the allegation against the petitioner right from the beginning is that he caused d