Officer Entitled To Full Pay And Allowances If There Are No Reasons To Keep Him Suspended Till Conclusion Of Disciplinary Proceedings: Kerala HC
Tellmy Jolly
14 Dec 2024 12:05 PM IST
The Kerala High Court has held that an officer would be entitled to full pay and allowances if there were no reasons for keeping him under suspension till the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings.
The Division Bench of Justice A.Muhamed Mustaque and Justice P. Krishna Kumar observed that disciplinary authority must apply their mind and exercise their discretion in deciding whether the employee's suspension should remain in place until the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings.
“What we say is that it is for the disciplinary authority to decide whether such an officer should be kept under suspension for any justifiable reasons till the disciplinary proceedings are concluded. If there are no reasons to keep such officer under suspension till the conclusion of the disciplinary proceedings, then the officer would be entitled to full pay and allowances.”
In the case facts, the Court was considering whether the respondent a U. D. Clerk at Home for Mentally Deficient Children was suspended from service for failing to produce acquittance register and other connected records to the Directorate to comply with an order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal.
The Director of Social Justice imposed a minor penalty of censure, ordered that his suspension period would be regularised duty for all purposes, and limited his claim to subsistence allowance only.
Relying upon Rule 56B(3) to (5) of Part I of the Kerala Service Rules of 1956, the Court observed that the order would be entitled to full pay and allowances during the period of suspension if competent authority ordering reinstatement finds that the suspension was wholly unjustified.
The Court observed that the competent authority must determine two things, firstly, whether suspension was justified, and secondly, whether the entire period of suspension was necessary for disciplinary enquiry or not.
Court added, “Merely because the disciplinary authority has power to order suspension, does not lead to the situation that he should be kept under suspension till the disciplinary proceedings are concluded. That means, the disciplinary authority will have to exercise its discretion as to whether the suspension of an employee should be continued till the disciplinary proceedings are concluded or not.”
In the facts of the case, the Court observed that there were no reasons for keeping the officer under suspension during the disciplinary proceedings. It thus stated that the disciplinary authority has not applied its mind while keeping the respondent under suspension.
As such, the Court held that the respondent was entitled to full pay and allowance.
Counsel for Petitioners: Senior Government Pleader Nisha Bose
Counsel for Respondents: Advocates P.Mohandas (Ernakulam), S.Vibheeshanan, K.Sudhinkumar, S.K.Adhithyan, Muhammed Ibrahim Abdul Samad
Case Number: OP(KAT) NO. 326 OF 2018
Case Title: State of Kerala v Haridasan
Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 798
