JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP MOUDGIL, J.

Prayer

1. The jurisdiction of this court has been invoked under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction for calling the records of the proceedings before the respondents and for quashing the order dated 15.12.2018 passed by Respondent No. 3 (Annexure P-1), whereby the petitioner was declared a proclaimed person (absconder), as well as the order dated 25.04.2019 (Annexure P-2) passed by Respondent No. 3, whereby the petitioner has been dismissed from service. The petitioner further seeks issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to reinstate the petitioner in service with all consequential and attendant benefits.

Brief Facts

2. The petitioner was enrolled in the Central Reserve Police Force on 01.11.2006 and was serving as Constable (CT/WC). He was posted to E/44 Battalion on 16.02.2016 and continued to serve in the said unit. The petitioner proceeded on sanctioned leave for 15 days from 19.05.2018 to 05.06.2018. Upon expiry of the leave, he was required to report for duty on 05.06.2018 at the Transit Camp, Jammu. However, due to a road accident resulting in a foot injury, the petitioner could not join duty and remained absent from 06.06.2018.

3. The petitioner reported at Transit Camp, Jammu on 05.07.2018 and was placed under medical care. He was reported sick on 09.07.2018 and thereafter examined at 44 Battalion Hospital on 14.07.2018, where he was granted two weeks’ medical rest. Subsequently, further medical rest of four weeks was sanctioned from 25.07.2018 to 21.08.2018.

4. The petitioner could not resume duty on 22.08.2018. According to him, the continued absence was on account of medical condition and personal circumstances, and he communicated his inability to join duty, including through a legal notice dated 25.08.2018 seeking extension of leave. Thereafter, the petitioner remained under treatment and was admitted at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana from 01.10.2018 to 31.03.2019 for treatment of a non-healing ulcer of the left foot.

5. In the interregnum, the respondents passed an order dated 15.12.2018 declaring the petitioner as a proclaimed person with effect from 22.08.2018 and stopped his salary and service benefits. Subsequently, an ex parte departmental enquiry was conducted, culminating in the order dated 25.04.2019 whereby the petitioner was dismissed from service.

6. The petitioner, however, continued to suffer medical complications and also sustained a spinal injury in a road accident on 08.08.2019, due to which he remained under treatment and on bed rest, and was declared medically fit only on 20.03.2020. He claims that he attempted to report to the unit on 01.02.2020 but was not permitted to join.

7. Aggrieved against the order dated 15.12.2018 declaring him as proclaimed person and the order dated 25.04.2019 dismissing him from service, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition.

Contentions On behalf of petitioner

8. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the impugned orders dated 15.12.2018 and 25.04.2019 are vitiated on account of gross violation of the principles of natural justice, inasmuch as no notice, summons or opportunity of hearing was ever afforded to the petitioner prior to declaring him a proclaimed person or proceeding with the departmental enquiry. It is submitted that the entire enquiry was conducted ex parte without ensuring effective service upon the petitioner, thereby rendering the proceedings legally unsustainable.

9. It is further contended that the absence of the petitioner from duty was neither wilful nor deliberate but was occasioned by circumstances beyond his control, namely the road accident immediately after expiry of leave, followed by prolonged medical treatment, including hospitalization from 01.10.2018 to 31.03.2019, and subsequent spinal injury. It is argued that the medical record substantiates the inc