PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the issuance of a Writ of Ceritorarified Mandamus calling for the records pertaining to the order passed by the 2nd respondent proceedings vide Roc.No.1327/2025/B dated 4.4.2025 and consequential proceedings in Na.Ka.1327/2025/Aa dated 19.1.2026 and quash the same and direct the respondent to review the suspension order based on the representation dated 7.7.2025 as per the government order vide G.O.Ms.No.81 Human Resources Management(N) Department dated 4.8.2022

ORDER

This Writ Petition has been filed for the following relief:

“calling for the records pertaining to the order passed by the 2nd respondent proceedings vide Roc.No.1327/2025/B dated 4.4.2025 and consequential proceedings in Na.Ka.1327/2025/Aa dated 19.1.2026 and quash the same and direct the respondent to review the suspension order based on the representation dated 7.7.2025 as per the government order vide G.O.Ms.No.81 Human Resources Management(N) Department dated 4.8.2022.”

The petitioner was selected as Village Administrative Officer on 06.02.2013 under Group-IV category by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and posted at Kadathur Village, Chinnasalem Taluk, Villupuram District. On 16.03.2024, the petitioner was transferred to Chellapillaikuttai Village, Omalur Taluk, Salem District.

While so, when the petitioner was working as Village Administrative Officer at Chellapillaikuttai Village, Omalur Taluk, on the complaint lodged by one M.Rajendran, alleging that the petitioner had demanded a sum of Rs.10,000/- for issuance of free house patta to his wife Sangeetha, a trap was arranged by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department on 02.04.2025.

According to the petitioner, he neither demanded nor accepted any amount from the complainant. It is the specific case of the petitioner that the said amount was given to one Perumal, Village Assistant, who alone was caught red-handed by the officials of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department. However, the petitioner was arrested on 02.04.2025 at about 5.00 p.m. and remanded to judicial custody pursuant to the registration of First Information Report in Crime No.03/AC/2025 dated 04.04.2025 on the file of the Inspector of Police, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Salem.

Thereafter, the 2nd respondent had issued an order of suspension dated 04.04.2025 placing the petitioner under suspension. Subsequently, no charge memo has been issued nor any charge sheet has been filed against the petitioner.

On 07.07.2025, the petitioner had submitted a representation dated 07.07.2025 seeking review of the suspension order based on G.O.Ms.No.81, Human Resources Management (N) Department, dated 04.08.2022, G.O.(D) No.450, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, dated 01.08.2023 and the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ajay Kumar Choudhary Vs. Union of India - (2015) 7 SCC 291.

Since the said representation was not considered, the petitioner had filed W.P.No.38259 of 2025 seeking a direction to the 2nd respondent to review the order of suspension dated 04.04.2025 by considering the representation dated 07.07.2025. By order dated 10.10.2025, this Court had directed the 2nd respondent to consider the petitioner’s representation in accordance with law within a period of eight weeks. However, contrary to the letter and spirit of the order passed by this Court, the 2nd respondent had rejected the request of the petitioner by proceedings dated 19.01.2026 in Na.Ka.No.1327/2025/Aa., merely stating that the request of the petitioner cannot be considered in view of the instructions issued in Letter No.476854/94-10, Personnel and Administrative Reforms (N) Department, dated 05.01.1996.

The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the petitioner has been kept under prolonged suspension without issuance of a charge memo or charge sheet and such continued suspension is impermissible in law. He wou