SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

1983 Supreme(Guj) 97

Gujarat High Court
Judgename :S.L.TALATI
NATWARLAL KESHAVLAL SHETH - Appellant
Versus
JAMNAGAR MUNICIPALITY - Respondent
S.C.A. 2267 of 1978
Decided On : 06/17/1983

Advocates Appeared: J.R.NANAVATI, S.B.VAKIL

Headnote:

Gujarat Municipalities Act 1963 - Section49 - Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act 1949 - Section 493 - Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act 1949 - Section 493 - Physical verification of Electrical and Mechanical stores - Auditor - Petitioner is resident of Jamnagar and he was serving as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality - It appears that he was first appointed as an Engineer in Jamnagar Municipality - Thereafter he was placed in charge as Chief Officer he served as officiating Chief Officer of Municipality - Ultimately Jamnagar Municipal Public Service Commission made recommendation that he was fit to be appointed as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality and that recommendation was made on Thus petitioner at relevant time was working as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality - Ultimately on Jamnagar Municipality was superseded - It appears that as Municipality came to be superseded an Administrative Officer was appointed and he took over charge – Held, It is no body case that any one reported to him of any serious discrepancy which ever occurred and he failed to take any initiative and take action - Under these circumstances court do not see that any violation was done either of Committee Rules particularly Rule 31 or Rule 138 of Municipal Account Code or Section 49 of Gujarat Municipalities Act - Under these circumstances petitioner is bound to succeed - Pendency of petition Jamnagar is converted into a city and Jamnagar municipality is substituted by Municipal Corporation of Jamnagar as a result on respondent was ordered to be substituted and now Municipal Commissioner was ordered to be served as Municipal Corporation of Jamnagar was made a party - Petition allowed.

S. L. TALATI, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner is the resident of Jamnagar and he was serving as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality. It appears that he was first appointed on 2 1963 as an Engineer in Jamnagar Municipality. Thereafter he was placed in charge as Chief Officer on 12-8-1971. From 14-11-1975 he served as officiating Chief Officer of the Municipality. Ultimately Jamnagar Municipal Public Service Commission made recommendation that he was fit to be appointed as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality and that recommendation was made on 20-2-1976. Thus the petitioner at the relevant time was working as Chief Officer of Jamnagar Municipality. Ultimately on 27-9- 1976 Jamnagar Municipality was superseded. It appears that as the Municipality came to be superseded an Administrative Officer was appointed and he took over the charge. While he was holding the charge he had ordered the physical verification of various departments and ultimately between 5-10-1976 and 10-11-1976 physical verification of Electrical and Mechanical stores was done by the Auditor. The Auditor was helped by Store clerks and ultimately the Auditor submitted two reports; one report was submitted on 10-11-1976 and another report was submitted on 9-12-1976. As a result of the reports of the Auditor on 10-12-1976 the Administrator issued a memo to the petitioner and also to the Issue Clerk of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Stores. In this petition we are not concerned with the memo issued to the Issue Clerk of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Stores because he is not party to this petition. In the memo it was stated that there was difference between the existing electrical-materials in the department and the books maintained for the purpose and the value of the difference came to Rs. 4 21 421 The petitioner was asked to submit explanation on or before 14-12-1976 and it was stated that the responsibility will thereafter be fixed. Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Store Issue Clerk wrote a letter on 10-12-1976 to the Chief Officer stating that the posting of several issue orders was not done and the accounts were incomplete and the verification was required to be done and that he would try to complete the work by 14-12-1976. It appears that thereafter ultimately on 18-12-1976 the Administrator issued a charge-sheet against the present petitioner. Five allegations were made in the Charge-sheet. The first allegation was that the Chief Officer failed to perform his duty inasmuch as according to Rule 138 of the Bombay Municipal Account Code 1961 the physical verification of the Stores was not regularly done and that he again failed in his duty inasmuch as as per Jamnagar Municipal Committee Rule 31 he did not get the verification done of the stores from Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Stores Issue Clerk and that he did not obtain a proper certificate from him and did not submit the same to the President. The second allegation was that he did not supervise the stores which were in charge of the said Issue Clerk and pal particularly the Water Works Stores and Light Branch stores and thus failed in his duty in keeping proper control over the subordinates and that he did not check the registers Bin-cards of the Electrical and Mechanical Stores regularly and did not Sign them regularly or signed them mechanically or knowingly and thus he was negligent in his duty. It is not necessary to mention charge no. 3 because that charge is held not proved by the Inquiry Officer who was ultimately appointed. Charge no. 4 was that according to the report of the Auditor dated 9-12-1976 there was deficit to the tune of Rs 4 20 916 and though the time was given no effort was made to complete the deficit by taking proper regular measures. Charge no. 5 was that during checking on 16-12-1976 it was found that he had failed to keep proper supervision and control over his subordinates and that the Store clerks in the Electrical and Mechanical Departments had failed to g









Click Here to Read the rest of this document
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
SupremeToday Portrait Ad
supreme today icon
logo-black

An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance

qr

Scan Me!

India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

whatsapp-icon telegram-icon
whatsapp-icon Back to top