Honble Dilip Gupta, J.—This writ petition has been filed for quashing the order dated 21st June, 2003 passed by the Director General of Jail Administration by which deduction of 10% from the pension of the petitioner has been ordered in exercise of the powers under Rule 351-A of the Civil Service Regulations.

2. The petitioner joined the U.P. Jail services as Bandi Rakshak on 18th August, 1965 and was promoted to the post of Assistant Jailor in the year 1979 and when the said post was declared as a dying cadre, the petitioner was absorbed as Deputy Jailor in the year 1988. On 19th October, 1998, the Jailor, District Jail Gonda went on leave for four days and, therefore, the petitioner was entrusted with the charge of Jailor. The Jailor, however, did return back in time and so the petitioner continued to work as Jailor. A charge-sheet dated 6th May, 1999 was served upon the petitioner in respect of an incident that took place on 24th October, 1998 while the petitioner was discharging the duties of Jailor in district Jail Banda. After completion of the enquiry, a report dated 13th March, 2000 was submitted and thereafter a show-cause notice dated 19th May, 2000 was issued to the petitioner requiring him to submit a reply. The petitioner submitted a reply on 3rd July, 2000 and thereafter the order dated 21st June, 2003 was passed imposing the punishment of reduction of 10% of the pension. It is this order that has been impugned in the present petition.

3. Sri Surendra Kumar Mishra learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the order dated 21st June, 2003 deserves to be set aside inasmuch as the petitioner cannot be said to be guilty of grave misconduct or to have caused pecuniary loss to the State Government by misconduct or negligence.

4. Learned Standing Counsel for the respondents on the other hand submitted that in view of the findings recorded by the Inquiry Officer, the order passed under Regulation 351-A of the Civil Service Regulations was justified and called for no interference.

5. In order to appreciate the contentions advanced by the learned Counsel for the parties, it would be necessary to consider the charges levelled against the petitioner. The sole charge mentions that the petitioner who was a Deputy Jailor in District Jail Gonda was the Acting Jailor from 19th October, 1998 to 25th October, 1998. On 24th October, 1998 at about 7:55 AM six under trial prisoners were taken for work outside the jail at Farm No. 1 by the Command Officer Sri Bindadin Bandi along with Sri Shyam Manohar Mishra who was the Santri on duty. One prisoner threw chilli powder in the eyes of Sri Bindadin and fled away with the co-prisoner Mangru. The charge levelled against the petitioner was that being the Acting Jailor he should not have permitted the prisoners to go outside the jail. He was, therefore, found guilty of various provisions of U.P. Jail Manual for not discharging his duty properly in managing the security arrangement of the jail properly and not properly selecting the prisoners who were to go outside the jail. The reply submitted by the petitioner was that though five posts of Deputy Jailors and one post of Jailor had been sanctioned by the Government for District Jail Gonda but on the relevant date there were only two Deputy Jailors and one of them Sri Janardhan Chaubey who had come from Reserved Headquarters after getting promotion had no experience at all and, therefore, all the work like sending the prisoners to the Courts, replying to the letters of the Courts and releasing the prisoners in compliance to the order had been allotted to the petitioner. The petitioner, apart from having been required to perform the duty of Jailor was also having the charge of Deputy Jailor. There was, therefore, no laxity shown by the petitioner. The Inquiry Officer in his report clearly mentioned that the Command Officer Sri Bindadin had broken the command and sent the two prisoners along with the Santri for carrying the veget