Prolonged suspension beyond 3 months without charge-sheet or reasoned review is illegal and punitive.

ORDER

Per: - Rajinder Singh Dogra, Judicial Member

1. The applicant has filed the present Original Application under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 seeking the following reliefs: -

a) For quashing Order No. DCS/Estt/2023-24/82 1 -28 dated 26.03.2024 passed by respondent Commissioner, Samba, placing the suspension.

b) For a direction to treat the applicant as on duty in terms of the mandate of law and for releasing his salaries as are due c) For passing any other order/relief as deemed fit in the circumstances.

2. The facts of the case as averred by the applicant in his pleadings, are as follows: -

a) The applicant, Varun Choudhary, is a government servant working as a Patwari in the Revenue Department of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. At the relevant point of time, he was posted as Patwari Halqa Nanga, Tehsil Ramgarh, District Samba

b) On 26.03.2024, the applicant came to be implicated in FIR No. RC0042024A0002, registered under Sections 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with Section 120-B IPC, on the basis of a trap allegedly laid by the CBI on the complaint of one Avtar Singh. It is the specific case of the applicant that he has been falsely implicated and that the allegations are yet to be tested in a full-fledged trial.

c) Consequent upon the registration of the aforesaid FIR, the Deputy Commissioner, Samba, exercising administrative control, issued Order No. DCS/Estt/2023-24/821-28 dated 26.03.2024, placing the applicant under suspension with immediate effect. Since then, the applicant has continuously remained under suspension.

d) The investigation culminated in the presentation of a charge- sheet before the Court of learned Special Judge, Anti- Corruption (CBI Cases), Jammu on 27.04.2024, and the criminal proceedings are presently stated to be pending trial. The applicant asserts that mere pendency of a criminal case cannot justify indefinite continuation of suspension.

e) During the period of suspension, the applicant was sanctioned subsistence allowance equivalent to 50% of pay and dearness allowance vide Order No. DCS/Estt/03 of 2024 dated 16.10.2024, and he was attached with the office of the Tehsildar, Vijaypur

f) The principal grievance of the applicant is that for more than one year after the suspension, no memorandum of charges or departmental charge-sheet was served upon him, nor was his suspension reviewed periodically as mandated under the applicable service rules and judicial pronouncements.

g) The applicant contends that the prolonged suspension, without initiation of departmental proceedings and without passing any reasoned order extending the suspension, is arbitrary, illegal, and stigmatic in nature, causing serious prejudice to his service career, reputation, and financial stability.

h) Placing reliance on the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ajay Kumar Choudhary v. Union of India, the applicant asserts that suspension beyond three months without service of charge-sheet and without reasoned review is impermissible in law. On these grounds, the applicant seeks quashment of the suspension order dated 26.03.2024 and a direction to treat him as on duty with all consequential benefits.

3. The respondents have filed their written statement wherein they have averred as follows: -

a) The respondents have filed a detailed written statement opposing the Original Application. At the outset, it is submitted that the applicant has been placed under suspension strictly in accordance with law and the applicable service rules, owing to his involvement in a serious corruption case detected through a CBI trap.

b) It is averred that on 26.03.20