JUDGMENT

Balakrishnan Nair, J.

The respondents in the Writ Petition are the appellants.

The respondent herein was the writ petitioner.

2. The brief facts of the case are the following:

The respondent was a Zilla Sainik Welfare Officer working under the appellants. He joined the said post after 13 years of military service on 29.07.1988. In the year 1996, a vigilance enquiry was conducted into certain allegations against him. In the enquiry some of the allegations appeared to be tenable and therefore, the disciplinary authority decided to take disciplinary action action against him. He was served with a memo of charges. The allegations against him were the following:

“That you, Capt.Samuel Mathew Parakkat (Retd), Parakkat House, Thenyakavu P.O., Konni, Pathanamthitta while working as a Government servant in the capacity of Zilla Sainik Welfare Officer, Kasaragode was unauthorisedly absent from your office on 21.12.1992 to 31.12.1992.

And that you while working as above have resorted to short payment of the financial grants like DBF, SMBF, MACF which were sanctioned to the Ex- servicemen and dependents by deducting amounts from Rs.20/- to Rs.100/- from the sanctioned amount but at the same