CWP No. 2131 of 2011 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 2131 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision : 01-06-2011 Ishwar Singh ....Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana and others ....Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER Present:- Mr. R.K. Malik, Sr. Advocate with Ms. Saravpreet, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Sunil Nehra, Sr. DAG, Haryana MAHESH GROVER, J The petitioner claims that he was dismissed from service on 10.9.2008 on account of conviction that he had suffered. This conviction was however converted into acquittal vide judgment of this Court dated 3.2.2010. Immediately after his acquittal, he made a representation by way of legal notice on 15.2.2010. The respondents accepted his prayer and reinstated him on 30.11.2010, pursuant to which the petitioner reported for duty on 1.12.2011. The prayer that has been made herein is that in view of the fact that he was acquitted, the period from 10.9.2008 till the date when the petitioner joined i.e 1.12.2010 should be treated as period spent on duty and he should be given all the financial benefits. The respondents have refuted the prayer of the petitioner and have stated that the said period has been treated as period spent on duty but the petitioner cannot be granted financial benefits as he had not put in work CWP No. 2131 of 2011 (O&M) 2 for that period. Mr. Malik, learned senior counsel for the petitioner places reliance on Rule 7.3 Note 9 which is as follows to contend that on acquittal he was entitled to full financial benefits:- “Rule 7.3 Note 9 – Where a Govt. employee under suspension is acquitted by a Court of law and the order of reinstating him is passed some time after the date of acquittal, full pay and allowances have to be paid from the date of acquittal to the date of rejoining duty and the period counted as duty for all purposes whereas for the period from the date of suspension/suspension/removal/dismissal to the date of acquittal, he is to be allowed pay and allowances as directed by the competent authority under sub Rule (2) or sub rule (3) of this Rule and the period treated as duty or non duty under sub rule (4) or sub rule (5) of this Rule, as the case may be.” He had also placed reliance on judgment of this Court titled as Shashi Kumar vs. Uttri Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and another reported as 2005(1) RSJ 718. On the other hand, Mr. Nehra, learned counsel for the State of Haryana has placed reliance on Supreme Court judgments titled as Ranchhodji Chaturji Thakore vs. The Superintendent Engineer, Gujarat Electricity Board reported as 1997(1) SCT 824 and Asok Sharma vs.Ram Adhar Sharma reported as 2009 (2) SCT 165 as also the judgment of the Coordinate Bench of this Court rendered in CWP no. 19079 of 2009 titled as Ramesh Kumar vs. State of Haryana and others decided on 30.6.2010. CWP No. 2131 of 2011 (O&M) 3 I have considered the assertions and counter assertions made by the parties. Note 9 to Rule 7.3 upon which reliance has been placed by the petitioner talks of an employee who has been placed under suspension during the period he faces criminal prosecution and is acquitted by the Court of law and in which eventuality upon his reinstatement he is entitled for the entire financial benefits. The case in hand however does not pertain to suspension and is rather pertaining to dismissal of the petitioner. In the given set of circumstances I am of the considered opinion that for the reason that petitioner has not put in any work he is not entitled to any financial benefits for the period w.e.f 10.12.2008 when he was dismissed till 3.2.2010 when he was acquitted. However, in so far as remaining period is concerned i.e from 3.2.2010 when he was acquitted and made a representation on 15.2.2010 till his reinstatement he is entitled to the financial benefits on account of the fact that the respondents took unusually long time to reinstate him in November, 2010. The petitioner therefore cannot be penalized for this period. Accordingly, the instant petition is partially accepted and the petitioner is held entitled to financial benefits from 3.2.2010 to 30.11.2010 when he was reinstated. Disposed of. June 01, 2011 (Mahesh Grover) rekha Judge