Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad

C A V Order

1. By way of this petition, the petitioner has prayed for following reliefs:-

“10.1. That the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to issue writ in the nature of mandamus to quash the order dated 11-12/01/2023 issued by respondent No. 1.

10.1A. That this Hon'ble court may be please to issue A writ and/or and order or direction in the nature of appropriate writ do issue quashing the order dated 27.10.2018 whereby the petitioner has been dismissed from the service in the interest of justice.

10.2. That the Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to direct the respondent No.1 to reinstate the petitioner in employment and give consequential benefits from the date of suspension.

10.3. Any other relief, which may be deemed, fit by this Hon'ble Court just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be provided in favour of the petitioner.”

2. Brief facts of the case, is that, the petitioner is challenging the impugned order dated 11/01/2023 passed by respondent No.1, whereby he has been removed from service on the allegation that he had secured employment by submitting forged documents pertaining to land bearing Khasra No. 583/3, Rakba 0.405, situated at Village Kunda of Bishrampur Colliery, which land had been acquired by SECL, and that his appointment was allegedly obtained on the basis of such false documents. It is submitted that the primary allegation against the petitioner is that he misrepresented himself as the grandson of Pawan, son of Gharbharan, caste Goud, and thereby secured employment in the respondent organization, further alleging, on the basis of an anonymous complaint, that the petitioner actually belongs to the Yadav caste as recorded in his service book as Ahir/Yadav and, being a non-tribal, could not claim lineage from Gharbharan. Accordingly, he was charged under Clause 26.01 and 26.9 of the Standing Orders, and charges were framed against him on 27/05/2011. The petitioner submitted his reply to the charges, which was rejected, and he was subjected to a departmental inquiry, ultimately resulting in his dismissal from service vide order dated 27/10/2018, however, the appellate authority, while passing the impugned order, failed to examine the fundamental issue regarding the authenticity and credibility of the complaint and the complainant, as consistently emphasized by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and this Hon’ble Court. It is further submitted that the verification of caste and related status falls within the exclusive domain of the competent statutory authority, and a departmental inquiry is neither the proper forum nor vested with jurisdiction to adjudicate such issues, nevertheless, in the present case, no such inquiry was conducted by the competent authority, and instead, the petitioner was proceeded against departmentally. It is also pertinent that a criminal case registered against the petitioner on the same set of allegations under Sections 465, 468, 471, and 420 of the IPC resulted in his acquittal by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surajpur, vide judgment dated 18/01/2019. Thereb rendering the impugned action unsustainable in law. That after rendering more than a decade of service, an anonymous complaint was made before the SECL Headquarters alleging procurement of employment through forged documents, pursuant to which the petitioner was placed under suspension vide order dated 27/05/2011, and a committee was constituted on 22/06/2011. Thereafter, following departmental proceedings, he was held guilty and removed from service on 27/10/2018. It is further submitted that the petitioner, along with similarly situated persons, had earlier approached this Hon’ble Court in WP(S) No. 4728/2011, wherein the Court directed the authorities to refer the matter to t