Suspension orders extended without charge sheet issued within the statutory period violate legal principles; timely judicial review is essential in administrative discipline cases.

ORDER

Per Smt. UrmitaDatta (Sen), Judicial Member:

The applicant has approached this Tribunal under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985 , praying for the following relief:

i) Office Order No. PMG/SKM/INV/GTK HPO-2024/DISC Dated 14.06.24 Issued by Respondent No.4 extending the Suspension Period with respect to the applicant is not tenable in the eye of law since the authority concerned failed to issue chargesheet upon the applicant after expiry of 90 days from the date of issuance of Order of Suspension and as such the same should be quashed;

ii) The subsequent Orders dated 13.09.24, 12.12.24 and 13.03.25 extending further suspension cannot be sustained in the eye of law and as such the same may be quashed and a direction may be issued upon the respondents to revoke the Order of suspension and to grant all consequential benefits.

(iii) An order do issue directing the respondent authorities to extend the benefit of settled judicial propositions as well as the benefit of The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, DoPT Office Memorandum dated 23.08.2016 vide F. No. 11012/04/2016- Estt. (A) in favour of the applicant and thereby treating the suspension of the applicant as lapsed/revoked on expiry of 3 months from 07.03.2024 and thereby to allow him to resume his duties in the capacity of Sub Post Master under the respondents at transferred place with immediate effect;

(iv)To grant all consequential benefits;

(v)To certify and transmit the entire records and papers pertaining to the applicant's case so that after the causes shown thereof conscionable justice may be done unto the applicant by way of grant of reliefs as prayed for in (a) and (b) above;

(vi)Any other order or orders as the Hon'ble Tribunal deems fit and proper.

2. As per the applicant, while the applicant was working as Postal Assistant, Gangtok HPO under Deputy Superintendent of Post Offices, Office of the Post Master General, Sikkim, he was detained in custody for more than 48 hours and as such he was deemed to have been suspended w.e.f. the date of detention. As such, he was placed under deemed suspension w.e.f. 19.03.2024 vide Office Memorandum dated 19.03.2024, which was extended for a further period of 90 days on and from 14.06.2024 , 13.09.2024 and 12.12.2024 and continuing under suspension as per the recommendations of the suspension Review Committee.

Further, as per the recommendation of the Suspension Review Committee, the suspension period was further extended for a period of 90 days w.e.f. 14.03.2025 (Annexure A-1 collectively). In the meantime, in view of prolonged suspension, the applicant made a representation before the Post Master General but to no avail. It is submitted that though more than one year had passed from the initial date of suspension, the said suspension order has not been revoked although the investigating agencies have already completed all the respective requirements of their investigation. However, till the date of filing of this instant Original Application, Memorandum of Charges was not issued against the applicant. It has been stated by the applicant that as per Rules, the applicant could not be kept under suspension for an indefinite period without issuance of any Charge Sheet. Therefore, the applicant had prayed before the authorities for revocation of his suspension and to resume his duties (Annexure A-2).

3. It has been submitted by the Ld. Counsel for the applicant that while extending the suspension period, the Disciplinary Authority/Suspension Review Committee did not disclose the reasons for such extension, which is in violation of the settled principl