Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 6: High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed the Government order whereby Jasvinder Singh Dua was placed under suspension and Memorandum along with Statement of Articles of Charges and Statement of Imputation for being unsustainable in law.
The petitioner Jasvinder Singh Dua (Managing Director under suspension) of J&K Handicrafts (S&E) Corporation challenged the Government order bearing No.271-JK(GAD) of 2020 dated February 20, 2020 whereby and whereunder the petitioner was placed under suspension for nearly three years without there being any material warranting such action and also the same has not been reviewed from time to time as provided under rule.
He also challenged Statement of Articles of Charges and Statement of Imputation in support of the Article of Charges framed against him in as much as once the FIR No.23/2079 dated October 2, 2019 on the same allegations as contained in the Article of Charges has been quashed by the court vide judgment dated April 01, 2022.
After hearing Senior Advocate Abhinav Sharma along with Advocate Abhirash Sharma for the petitioner and Government Advocate Eishaan Dadhichi, Justice Javed Iqbal Wani observed, “In terms of Clause 78(V) of Articles of Association, it is the Board of Directors of the Corporation which is competent to appoint, remove or suspend officers of the Corporation”, adding “as long as the petitioner continued to be on the establishment of the corporation his service would be governed by the Articles of Association and the Rules of 1977 more so in view of the fact that Rules of 1977 also provide that where the Rules are silent then the Rules applicable to Government would apply”.
“Thus, in this view of the matter the respondents lack competence and jurisdiction to issue the impugned order of suspension against the petitioner or for that matter to draw, frame and serve Statement of Articles of Charges and Statement of Imputation in support of the Articles of Charges”, High Court said.
“Once the FIR registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is quashed by this court by an order having been upheld by the Apex Court, the departmental proceedings/disciplinary action initiated against the petitioner on the identical and similar set of facts/allegations cannot be continued as same would amount to sitting over the judgment of this court and order of the Apex Court which by no stretch of imagination would be in any case permissible”, Justice Wani said.
With these observations, High Court allowed the petition and quashed the impugned order No. 271- JK(GAD) of 2020 dated 20.02.2020 issued by respondent 2 and Memorandum No. IMD/SICOP/412018-51 dated 20.04.2020 along with Statement of Articles of Charges and Statement of Imputation in support of the Articles of Charges issued by the respondent 1.
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