ORDER

Per Hon’ble Ms. Archana Nigam, Member (A)

The applicant has filed the present OA u/s 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 praying for the following reliefs:-

i) Direction upon the respondents to set aside the Order of penalty of CENSURE No. C-13011/28/95-Vig dated 31.07.2003 also the order of disposal of appeal No. C-13011/28/95-Vig dated 14.12.2018 and the said both order shall not have any adverse effect in departmental promotions to be held or already held if any.

ii) Issue direction upon the respondents, their men, agents and each of them to forthwith serve and transmit all the papers and documents in connection with the case before this Hon’ble Tribunal for kind perusal and on such perusal render justice to the applicant.

iii) Grant costs of this proceeding to the applicant.

2. Brief facts of the case as narrated by the applicant are that the applicant was appointed as Grade IV officer (now Junior Time Scale) in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and joined the Indian Corporate Law Service on 10.01.1990. He was posted as Assistant Registrar of Companies Gujarat at Ahmedabad. The services of the applicant were terminated with effect from 15.12.2003 on the basis of a complaint and Court order dated 22.12.2002. Thereafter, an appeal was filed by the applicant before the Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad. The said appeal was allowed vide order dated 06.05.2015 and accordingly the respondent re-instated the applicant in his previous position w.e.f. 27.06.2017, along with granting full pay and allowances; the entire period of absence from duty etc has been treated as spent on duty for all purposes.

3. An inquiry was conducted under Rule 14 of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, for violating the provisions of Rule 13 (4) and (6) of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964(for accepting gifts of value exceeding Rs.150/- without obtaining the sanction of the Central Government from the persons having official dealing) The said inquiry was conducted on 30.11.1999 and concluded that “the charges were not established beyond doubt” (Annexure A1).

However, the respondent proposed a penalty of Censure as per the advice of CVC, under the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964; DoP&T was also approached and the penalty of Censure was finally imposed on the applicant on 31.07.2003 after a delay of 04 years from the date of conclusion of inquiry, vide an order dated 31.07.2013 (Annexure A4).

The appeal of the applicant against the penalty of Censure was made immediately upon rejoining Service by applicant; It was, however, rejected by the respondent Ministry vide order No.C13011/28/95-Vig dated 14.12.2017 (Annexure A6).hence the OA

4. In the written statement filed on behalf of respondent, it has been stated that the Calcutta Bench of this Tribunal has given a direction to the respondent authority to set aside the order of penalty of Censure No.C-13011/28/95-Vig dated 31.07.2003 and take action on the Appeal against the imposition of Penalty of censure, Neither the CCS Rules nor the Tribunal Act, permits such Appeal after 14 years of date of orders, That the act of the applicant is drastically barred by the Section 21 of the Administrative Tribunals Act. It is further stated that the applicant has also prayed for interim order directing the respondent to continue the process for fixation of seniority and promotions without considering the penalty of Censure against the applicant till the final outcome of instant OA is not permissible by law.

5. The applicant made an appeal vide representation dated

22.06.2017 to the Disciplinary Authority against the penalty of Censure imposed on him 14 years ago. The Disciplinary Authority, however, confirmed the penalty of Censure imposed on him vide order dated 14.12.2018 as no new fact/material which has the effect of changing the nature of case have been provided by the applicant in his representations. The representation/appeal against the penalty of Censure imposed on the applicant was rejected on the basis of facts on record.