CWP No. 11905 of 2009 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. CWP No. 11905 of 2009 Date of decision 5 .2.2010 Amrik Singh Longia ... Petitioner Versus Union of India and others ... Respondents. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M. KUMAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.Sarjit Singh, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Anjali Khosla ,Advocate for the petitioner Mr. Ravi Sodhi, Advocate for the respondents 1.To be referred to the Reporter or not ? 2.Whether the judgement should be reported in the Digest ? M.M.KUMAR, J. The petitioner has approached this Court challenging order dated 27.3.2009 (P.6) passed in OA No. 811 CH of 2007. The grievance of the petitioner was that the order dated 18.8.1977 may be declared void ab- initio. It was in pursuance of the aforesaid order that penalty of stoppage of one increment with cumulative effect was inflicted upon him. The petitioner has also claimed in the Original Application with the petitioner had filed an application for condonation of delay which was registered at No. 877 CH of 2007. However, the Tribunal placing reliance on the provisions of Section 14 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1986 and on a Constitution Bench judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of S.S.Rathore v. State of M.P. AIR 1990 SC 10 dismissed the application. In the light of the aforesaid law, the Tribunal has recorded a categorical finding which reads thus: CWP No. 11905 of 2009 2 “ We consider the present case in view of the above provisions in the Administrative Tribunals Act and the law on limitation and would observe a few dates and events from the facts of this case and find that these relate back to the year 1976- when the applicant was placed under suspension and charge sheet was served upon him; 1977- when the punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative effect was imposed upon him; 1978- when the Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration ordered a fresh inquiry which was conducted and the Inquiry Officer submitted his report on 21.3.1978. The present OA has been filed on 18.12.2007 and the relief claimed is to hold the order passed on 18.8.1977 as void ab initio, to restore the increment which was stopped as far back as on 18.8.1977 and to give any other directions or to pass any order deemed fit and proper in the facts of the case. This leaves us with an inescapable conclusion that the facts of this case pertain to a period prior to enactment and coming into force of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1986 from 22nd January, 1986 and this OA is badly hit under the law of limitation and deserves to be dismissed on this score alone. We are rather of the view that it is a worse case than V.K.Mehra's case (supra) and thus, needs outright rejection for want of jurisdiction. In view of the settled position under law and the grounds taken in the M.A. for condonation of delay, filed by the applicant, which are not found to be good and sufficient to condone the delay in preferring the present OA., the M.A. Is hereby rejected.” CWP No. 11905 of 2009 3 Accordingly, the application filed by the petitioner was dismissed as hopelessly time barred. The petitioner made another attempt for review of the matter but the same was also dismissed on 27.2.2009. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at a considerable length and find that the matter which has been settled in the year 1977 cannot be re-opened. The petitioner has already retired from service and on account of charge of man-handling an enquiry was held wherein he was initially exonerated by the enquiry officer but by disagreeing with the enquiry officer the disciplinary authority recorded a finding, based on the evidence available on record, against the petitioner and awarded punishment of stoppage of one increment with cumulative effect. It was in the year 1978 that on appeal some development took place. The petitioner did not take any steps for all these years. There is thus no ground to interfere in the view taken by the Tribunal. For the reasons mentioned above, this petition fails and the same is dismissed. (M.M.Kumar) Judge (Jitendra Chauhan) 5.2.2010 Judge okg