NELSON SAILO, J.

1. Heard Mr. N. Hussain, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms. U. Baruah, the learned Standing Counsel, ASTC, appearing for all the respondents.

2. By filing this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the impugned order dated 10.06.2016 (Annexure-7) by which he has been imposed with a penalty of recovery of Rs. 4,89,105/- from his monthly salary @ Rs. 10,000/- per month with effect from the month of June, 2016 in 48th installments and Rs. 9,105/- only in the last 49th installments.

3. Facts of the case may be narrated at the outset. The petitioner is an Assistant Engineer and he was working as Manager at Swagat Retail Outlet at Betkuchi under the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC). He was posted as such from the year 2008. On 13.04.2015 some miscreants snatched an amount of Rs. 9,78,210/- which was the collection of the Outlet meant to be deposited in the Gorchuk Branch of the State Bank of India. Pursuant to the incident, an FIR was lodged before the Officer-in-charge, Gorchuk Police Station and at the same time, the petitioner was served with a show-cause notice on 09.10.2015 by the respo