PASSED

BY

HONBLE

KARNATAKA APPELLATE TRIBUNAL BENGALURU IN

REVISION PETITION NO.57/2022 VIDE ANNEXURE-A

DATED 25/11/2022 IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE AND

EQUITY; DIRECTIONS TO THE R-2 TO DISPOSE OF THE

MATTER

COMPLAINT

NO.820/2022-23

AT

EARLIEST.

THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY

HEARING,

THIS

DAY,

COURT

MADE

FOLLOWING:

ORDER

The petitioner, who is working as ‘a Junior

Assistant’ with the first respondent from the month of

July

2007,

is

aggrieved

by

the

order

dated

25.11.2022 in Revision Petition No.57/2022 by the

Karnataka Appellate Tribunal [for short, ‘KAT’]. Smt.

Rama Ramachandra Iyer, the learned counsel for the

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petitioner, Sri. K Prasanna Shetty, the learned

counsel who is on caveat for the first respondent, and

Sri. M S Nagaraja, the learned Additional Government

Advocate for the second respondent, are heard for

final disposal of the petition, and given the nature of

controversy in the present petition, the service of

notice to the third respondent stands dispensed with.

The first respondent by the Order dated

14.09.2022, after a purported enquiry, has demoted

the petitioner from being a ‘Junior Assistant’ to an

‘Attender’. The petitioner has raised a dispute under

the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959 before

the second respondent in Complaint No.820/2022-23

and

the

second

respondent,

considering

the

petitioner’s application for interim order, has granted

stay on 10.10.2022 staying the operation of the first

respondent’s order dated 14.09.2022 directing the

first respondent to continue the petitioner as a

‘Junior Assistant’. The first respondent has called

- 4 -

this interim order dated 10.10.2022 in question

before the KAT in Revision Petition No.57/2022, and

the KAT considering the first respondent’s application

for interim order, has granted stay of the second

respondent’s

order.

As

such,

the

petitioner’s

demotion is now restored.

If

the

petitioner

contends

that

the

initiation of enquiry and demotion Order dated

14.09.2022 are because she has availed her remedy

under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

[Prevention of Atrocities] Act, 1989 as she was

subjected

to

harassment,

the

first

respondent

contends that the enquiry and the subsequent order

are in the light of certain defamatory and unfounded

posts/messages circulated by the petitioner, an

assertion contested by the petitioner.

4.

These rival contentions touch upon the

merits of the complaint that will have to be examined

by the second respondent. As regards the present

- 5 -

controversy, Smt. Rama Ramachandra Iyer submits

that the petitioner is presently hospitalized because

of her ill health and she would be discharged over the

next three to four days; she must be permitted to

attend work after necessary convalescence but she

will suffer ignominy of being a demoted employee

because of the interim order granted by the KAT.

Smt. Rama Ramachandra Iyer also submits that the

petitioner is put to severe financial hardship

inasmuch as the first respondent has not credited

salaries for the months commencing from December

2022.

5.

Sri. K Prasanna Shetty, the learned

counsel for the first respondent, submits that

because the complainant has challenged the Order

dated 14.09.2022 before the second respondent, who

has granted the interim order on 10.10.2022, the

salary for the month of December 2022 is withheld

but the first respondent shall pay salary for the two

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months. The petitioner cannot have a grievance

against the order dated 14.09.2022 because it is after

duly constituted enquiry.

6.

It cannot be gainsaid that the first

respondent’s grievance with the second respondent’s

interim order dated 10.10.2022 will have to be

considered by the KAT after due opportunity, and

this

Court

could

only

consider

the

interim

arrangement that must prevail until the first

respondent’s petition is considered by the KAT. In

the circumstances in which the proceedings are

initiated

by

the

first

respondent

against

the

petitioner,