CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 6591 of 2009 Date of decision :01.09.2011 Raj Kumar ......Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present: Mr. R.S. Bajaj, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Puneet Gupta, Addl.A.G. Punjab **** RITU BAHRI, J. The petitioner has sought quashing of order dated 23.02.2001 (Annexure P-4) whereby the petitioner has been dismissed from service and order dated 07.01.2004 (Annexure P-5) passed by respondent No. 3 whereby appeal filed by the petitioner has been dismissed. The petitioner was appointed as a Temporary constable in Punjab Armed Police by I.G.,PAP, Jalandhar Cantt under approval letter granted by DGP, vide memo dated 12.04.1992 by giving relaxation of qualification. All nine appointees were given relaxation of educational qualification being below matric. Thereafter, the petitioner was promoted on 08.12.1997 (Annexure P-2) to list C-II w.e.f 03.12.1997. On 21.11.2000 (Annexure P-3), the petitioner was issued a charge sheet. The Inquiry Officer was appointed and vide order dated 23.02.2001, the petitioner was dismissed from service by respondent No. 4 CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -2- (Annexure P-4). Aggrieved against the order of dismissal, the petitioner preferred an appeal before respondent No. 3, which was also dismissed, vide order dated 07.01.2004 (Annexure P-5). Aggrieved against the order dated 07.01.2004, the petitioner preferred a revision before respondent No. 2 on 03.02.2004 (Annexure P-6), which is still pending. Therefore, the petitioner is constrained to file the present writ petition. Mr. R.S. Bajaj, Advocate, learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the order of dismissal has been passed on the ground that at the time of appointment, the petitioner had submitted a fake certificate. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further stated that the order dated 20.07.2000 and 08.08.2000 passed by respondent Nos. 2 and 3 to dismiss the petitioner from service and also to register a criminal against him, were not given to the petitioner. He has further stated that while passing the impugned order, no proper opportunity was given to the petitioner to defend himself. FIR was registered against him on 25.04.2001 under Sections 420/465/467/468/471/120- B IPC at Jalandhar Cantt. In the department proceedings, the petitioner was compelled to disclose his defence which is bound to affect the criminal trial which is still pending at the stage of framing of charge. On the other hand, learned State counsel has vehemently argued that the dismissal order and the appellate order had been passed after conducting valid enquiry. The petitioner also produced his school leaving CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -3- certificate dated 16.01.1992 issued by the Principle, Govt. High School,Lama Pind, Jalanhdar (Annexure R-1/T). The Commandant 27th Battalion, PAP, Jalandhar Cantt vide memo dated 31.10.1996 sent the educational certificate of the petitioner to the Principle, Govt. High School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar (Annexure R-2/T) for its verification. The concerned school returned the educational certificate vide register letter No. 218 dated 05.11.1996 ( Annexure R-3/T) with the remarks “According to record, in Govt. High School, the admission in class 9th was started on 16.10.1980. In this year only 6 students admitted in class 9th. Raj Kumar was neither admitted in 9th class nor he was student of Class 10th class and as per admission register of school, no person in the name of Raj Kumar was admitted in the year 1980-81 and according to their record this certificate has not been issued by their office”. On receipt of verification report of education certificate, the petitioner appeared before the then 75th Battalion, PAP, Jalandhar Cantt that his educational certificate is genuine and the same may be got re-verified. On request of the petitioner, the Principle, Govt. Sen. Secondary School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar was again requested vide memo dated 20.11.1996 (Annexure R-5) for re-verification. The Principle, Govt. Sen. Secondary School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar vide letter dated 05.12.1996 (Annexure R-6/T) intimated that “As per record of the school, Raj Kumar s/o Sh. Amar Chand got admission in Class 9th on 11.04.1980 vide admission No. 6/938. After passing the 9th class, he study in 10th class upto 06.06.1981 and after that he left the school. Certificate issued on 16.01.1992 is correct and the same is sent back after verification. Above two errors which CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -4- didn't come into the notice of the issuing authority, because of the reasons that in the same year two students in the name of Raj Kumar were admitted. The record of School has been got checked from the District Education Officer and returned herewith. Letter No. 218 dated 05.11.1996 be treated as cancelled.” Subsequently, in the year 2000, the Deputy Supdt. Of Police Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar demanded the photocopy of educational certificate along with other concerned demanded in respect of petitioner and the same was supplied to him. Inspector Harnek Singh No. 635/PAP of Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar sent source report to the higher authority that Constable Raj Kumar No. 27/776, 75/308 (petitioner) has got himself appointed in PAP by obtaining false certificate of his education from Govt. Sen. Secondary School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar (Annexure R-7/T). As per Annexure R10/T, Sh. Gian Chand, Principle had stated that that no letter was received by him from Commandant 75th Battalion Office and also no letter was sent by him under his signatures. Thereafter, the decision was taken to dismiss the petitioner from service after following the due procedure. A criminal case was also registered against the petitioner which is pending. Thereafter a charge sheet was served upon the petitioner and a show cause notice was also issued along with the copy of the enquiry report. Thereafter, his services were dismissed, vide Annexure P-4. Heard learned counsel for the parties. In the facts of the present case, the certificate of the petitioner was verified twice. As per statement of Harnek Singh, he received secret information that Constable Raj Kumar has got himself enlisted in PAP by obtaining false CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -5- certificate of his education form Govt. Sen. Secondary School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar. It transpired that petitioner was a clever constable and had managed to prepare a false report again from the said school that the initial certificate was correct and he was studied in class 9th and left the school while studying in class 10th. A criminal case was also registered against him and he is facing trial. Not only, he has produced the false certificate but he has procured a false letter from the said school that he was studying in class 10th and the earlier letter had been issued showing that he was not a student of the school as there were two students in the school in the name of Raj Kumar. The second verification letter has been found to be bogus as per the enquiry report. A constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs. Dattatray s/o Namdeo Mendhekar & Ors, 2008(2), S.C.T 177 has held that where a person secures appointment on the basis of false caste certificate, he cannot be allowed to retain the benefit of the wrong committed by him and his services are liable to be terminated. The Supreme Court in the case of Regional Manager, Central Bank of India vs. Madhulika Gurprasad Dahir and ors, 2008(3) R.C.R (Civil) 855 has observed in paragraph 13, which reads as under:- “Similarly, the plea regarding rendering of services for a long period has been considered and rejected in a series of decisions of this Court and we deem it unnecessary to launch on exhaustive dissertation on principles in this context. It would suffice to state that except in a few decisions, where the admission/appointment was not cancelled because of peculiar factual matrix obtaining therein, the consensus of judicial opinion is that equity, sympathy or generosity has no place where the original appointment rests on a false caste certificate.” CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -6- The Supreme Court in the case of Union of India and others vs. Amar Singh, 2008(1) S.C.T 627 has upheld removal from service after 29 years and 7 months of services when it was found that appointment had been sought by fraud. The relevant portion is as under:- A reading of the said Rule clearly stipulates that after enrolment in the Force, his “character”, “antecedents”, 'connections' and 'age' shall be verified in accordance with the procedure prescribed. In other words, the said Rule enables the authorities concerned to verify the particulars with regard to the same as soon as the person concerned has been inducted into the Force. It is not stated anywhere about “false” or 'fake certificate' of education is to be verified immediately as stated in sub-clause (a) of Rule 14. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the person who seeks employment to place authenticated certificate about his educational qualification and community etc. “ In the facts of the present case, the petitioner had submitted a fake certificate when he was appointed as temporary constable on 12.04.1992. All nine appointees were given relaxation of educational qualification being below matric. The certificate submitted by the petitioner was found to be fake. More so, during the enquiry conducted by Inspector Harnek Singh No. 635/PAP of Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar, it was found that petitioner has got himself appointed in PAP by obtaining false certificate of his education from Govt. Sen. Secondary School, Lama Pind, Jalanhdar (Annexure R-7/T). As per Annexure R10/T, Sh. Gian Chand, Principle had stated that that no letter was received by him from Commandant 75th Battalion Office and also no letter was sent by him under his signatures. A criminal case was registered against the petitioner and was pending for trial. CWP No. 6591 of 2009 -7- In view of the above, order dated 23.02.2001 (Annexure P-4) and order dated 07.01.2004 (Annexure P-5) seem to be validly passed. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. 01.09.2011 (RITU BAHRI) G.Arora JUDGE