Due process requires appellate decisions to include reasons, and failure to consider significant facts may warrant a remand for reevaluation.

JUDGMENT :

1. The instant writ petition is filed by the Petitioner challenging the Order dated 08.05.2004 passed by the Respondent No. 4 herein i.e., Adjutant, 6^th Battalion, ITBP Force, terminating the services of the Petitioner and the subsequent Orders dated 30.09.2004, passed by the Director Inspector General (LWA); order dated 28.04.2006 passed by Inspector General, ITBP (HQ), confirming the Order dated 08.05.2004. The Petitioner also challenges the Order dated 28.01.2004 vide which the Petitioner was declared as an absconder.

2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts leading to this writ petition are as follows –

a. Petitioner was appointed as a Ground Duty Constable in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the year 1987. Thereafter, he was promoted to the rank of Lance Naik Ground Duty.

b. It is stated that while working as Lance Naik and being posted at 6th Battalion, ITBP, Ramgarh, District Panchkula, Haryana, the Petitioner sought for an earned leave of 60 days commencing from 15.02.2003 to 18.04.2003. The leave was sanctioned by the Respondent No. 4 and the Petitioner left for his hometown.

c. It is stated that the Petitioner was supposed to join the duties on 18.04.2003 afternoon. However, he did not join the duty on the said day. It is the case of the Petitioner that he was suffering from acute hepatitis and has written several letters to the Respondent No. 4 seeking extension of leave on the ground of his medical illness.

d. It is stated that out of the several letters written to the Respondent No. 4 by the Petitioner, only the Letter dated 23.04.2003, which was for the extension of leave for 15 days, was acknowledged by Respondent No. 4, and the same was rejected by Respondent No. 4, directing the Petitioner to join his duties immediately.

e. Material on record discloses that the Petitioner wrote another Letter dated 26.04.2003 seeking extension of leave for a period of 30 days which was rejected by Respondent No.4 vide Letter dated 06.06.2003.

f. It is stated that in reply to the rejection Letter dated 06.06.2003, the Petitioner submitted all his medical documents seeking extension of leave which was forwarded to Respondent No.4. However, Respondent No.4 vide reply dated 11.07.2003 denied the said request and directed the Petitioner to join the service immediately.

g. Respondent No. 4 issued a Memo dated 13.08.2003 to the Petitioner stating that it is the last warning to the Petitioner to join the duty. The Memo also stated that the Petitioner can get himself treated in the Battalion Hospital.

h. It is stated that a further memo was issued to the Petitioner on 28.08.2003 asking him to join the services immediately. Material on record indicates that the Respondent No. 4 on prior occasions requested the Additional Superintendent of Police, Allahabad, U.P., to conduct a secret enquiry regarding the health of the Petitioner. Again, a Letter dated 29.11.2003 was sent by the Respondent No. 4 to the Superintendent of Police, Allahabad, U.P., requesting the authorities to conduct a secret enquiry on the Petitioner’s health condition to determine whether he is unfit to join the service in actuality. The Enquiry Report stated that the Petitioner was not ill.

i. Material on record further indicates that vide Order dated 28.01.2004, the Petitioner was declared as an ‘absconder’ by the Respondent No.4. Paragraph 4 and 5 of the said Order reads as under:-

“4. By the enquiry report of Mohd. Kallamuddin forwarded vide OR No.926 of the Senior Superintendent of Police District Allahabad (U.P.) Batch No.870112543 L.N. G.D. Prem Shankar Dwivedi HO Company 6th Battalion Indo Tibetan Border Police without permission of the competent authority is deliberately absenting himself from 18.4.2003 afternoon after sixty days earned leave. For the purposes of finding out the reasons of absent from leave without the permission of the competent authority, under Sectio