JUDGMENT :

1. By way of present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs :

“7. The Honourable Court may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order of direction to the respondent authorities and may be pleased to:-

(A) Quash and set aside the impugned punishment order dated 26.8.2010, Annexure-A to this petition, and

(B) Quash and set aside the order dated 2.7.2015, Annexure-B to this petition, and further be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to reinstate the petitioner in service, with all consequential benefits, and

(C) Pending admission and final disposal of this petition, the Honourable Court may be pleased to stay the operation, implementation and execution of the impugned orders dated 26.8.2010 and 2.7.2015, Annexure-A and B to this petition, and

(D) Award the cost of the present petition;

(E) Grant any other relief or pass any other order which the Honourable Court may consider as just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.”

2. The brief facts giving rise to the present petition are as under :

2.1 The petitioner joined the service of the respondent authority on 12.08.1983 at the post of Typist and in due course, he came to be promoted to the post of Deputy Mamlatdar in the year 2000. That, during that period, the petitioner had rendered service with utmost sincerity and dedication, for which appreciation letters were also issued to the petitioner. It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner was issued a charge-sheet dated 01.09.2009 for the misconduct alleged to have been committed by the petitioner while discharging his duties as Deputy Mamlatdar (Administrative Branch) at Junagadh, during the period from 13.06.2008 to 22.06.2009. That, pursuant to the receipt of the said charge-sheet, the petitioner submitted his reply to the respondent authority on 25.02.2010, wherein, the petitioner had stated that, at the relevant point of time, four applicants had threatened the petitioner on mobile phone in the office to issue the certificates, but he had not received any amount from the said applicants.

2.2 It is the case of the petitioner that, thereafter, the Inquiry Officer came to be appointed by the respondent authority by order dated 08.03.2010 to conduct the departmental inquiry against the petitioner and the Inquiry Officer conducted the departmental inquiry against the petitioner, wherein, the charges levelled against the petitioner were held to be proved by the Inquiry Officer. Thereafter, a copy of the inquiry report alongwith the show-cause notice dated 05.07.2010 came to be issued to the petitioner. Pursuant to the said show-cause notice, the petitioner remained present before the disciplinary authority on 19.07.2010 and had made oral submissions, which were not even recorded by the authority. That thereafter, the disciplinary authority passed the impugned punishment order dated 26.08.2010, whereby, the punishment of compulsory retirement from service came to be imposed upon the petitioner.

2.3 It is the case of the petitioner that, being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said order of punishment, the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Gujarat Civil Service Tribunal being Appeal No.27 of 2013, which came to be dismissed by the Tribunal vide judgment and order dated 02.07.2015. That, after the punishment order was passed by the disciplinary authorities, the petitioner made a request to the respondent authorities to sanction him compassionate pension as per the Rules, however, the said request of the petitioner came to be rejected by the respondent authorities vide order dated 19.12.2012.

2.4 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the order dated 26.08.2010 passed by the disciplinary authority as well as the order dated 02.07.2015 passed by the Gujarat Civil Services Tribunal, the petitioner has preferred the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the afor