JUDGMENT :

JAVED IQBAL WANI, J.

1. Petitioner in the instant petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution has prayed for the following reliefs:

a. By issuance of writ, order or direction one in the nature of certiorari, the order No. 124 of 2024 dated 24-10-2024 issued by Respondent No. 2 be quashed.

b. By issuance of writ, order or direction one in the nature of mandamus, the respondents be commanded to reinstate the petitioner and allow him to discharge his duties as Khilafwarzi Inspector.

c. By issuance of writ, order or direction, one in the nature of mandamus, the respondents be commanded to pay full salary to the petitioner w.e.f. 18-01-2021 till 24-10-2024.

2. Facts emanating from the pleadings and the material on record reveal that certain complaints were lodged before the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir with regard to illegal sale of migrant property being plot No. 57, situated at Housing Colony Baghi-Mehtab, Srinagar, whereupon the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir appointed one Dr. Bashir Ahmad Lone (KAS), the then Vice Chairman of Srinagar Development Authority as an Inquiry Officer for holding a preliminary enquiry not only with regard to the sale of said plot of land but also about the execution of a power of attorney as also with regard to plot No. 170 situated at Government Housing Colony, Sanat Nagar, Srinagar, as well as the involvement of land mafia and the officials of the Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board (For short “the Board”), including the role of the petitioner therein.

3. In the said enquiry, the Inquiry Officer collected records from the Board as well as contacted the original plot holder/allottee of plot No.57, namely Shri A.K. Chakoo, whereafter, it got revealed that plot No. 57 had been allotted to said A.K. Chakoo, by the Board vide allotment order dated 16^th February, 1985 and that a purported irrevocable power of attorney, dated 10^th March, 2016, had been registered before the Sub-Registrar, Jammu in favour of one Abdul Latief Mir S/O Mohammad Abdullah Mir R/O Chewdara Tehsil Beerwah, Budgam, authorizing him to deal with the said plot No. 57 and the said power of attorney had been a fraudulent document as the allottee of the plot namely A.K. Chakoo, had denied to have executed the said power of attorney and had alleged that someone else had impersonated on his behalf while executing the said power of attorney and that the marginal witnesses named in the said power of attorney were not known to him. 

The Inquiry Officer in the said enquiry also recorded the statement of said Abdul Latief Mir (Attorney Holder), who had stated before the Inquiry Officer that he intended to purchase the said plot of land and had approached the petitioner herein in this regard whom he knew and that it is the petitioner who showed him various plots of land including plot No. 57, and, that he agreed to purchase the said plot of land for an amount of Rs. 22.00 lacs and that he in furtherance of the said agreed sale deposited approximately an amount of Rs. 16.00 lacs in the bank account of petitioner herein and his son namely Imtiyaz Ahmad Ganie, on different dates and that one of his neighbour namely Mohammad Yousuf had shown interest in purchasing of said plot of land and that he got shocked upon receiving a notice from the court, issued in a suit filed by Shri A.K. Chakoo, against the power of attorney in question and, as such, felt cheated and demanded back the money paid to the petitioner and his son which was not returned back.

The Inquiry Officer had further during the course of the said enquiry recorded the statement of the petitioner who had denied to have any role in execution of the power of attorney in question or else the sale of plot of land in question. The petitioner however, had stated before the Inquiry Officer with respect to money, stated to have been paid by said Abdul Latief Mir, into his bank account that he had no connection with said Abdul Latief Mir.

During the course of the enquiry, the Inquiry O