IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.8098 of 2010 Date of Decision : May 05, 2010. Gurcharan Singh .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Padamkant Dwivedi, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.B.S.Chahal, DAG, Punjab. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) Notice of motion. Mr.B.S.Chahal, DAG, Punjab, accepts notice on behalf of the respondents. In view of the nature of the order which I propose to pass, there is no need to seek any counter-reply from the respondents at this stage. The petitioner is serving as a Conductor in the Punjab Roadways Department. Vide orders dated 1.2.1984 (Annexure P-1), 31.1.1985, 14.10.1992, 17.5.1996 and 31.8.2007, the punishment of stoppage of annual increments with cumulative effect were imposed upon C.W.P.No .8098 of 2010 2 him. Aggrieved, he preferred a statutory appeal under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, which has been dismissed by the Appellate Authority vide order dated 14.9.2009 (Annexure P-3) being time barred. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits and rightly so that should there be an opportunity of personal hearing given to the petitioner to explain the cause of delay, he would have satisfied the Appellate Authority that the delay, if any, was for a justifiable reason and liable to be condoned. No such opportunity has been given to the petitioner before dismissing his appeal as time barred. For the reasons stated above, the writ petition is allowed in part; the impugned order dated 14.9.2009 (Annexure P-3) is quashed and the Appellate Authority is directed to afford an opportunity to the petitioner to explain the delay, if any, in submission of the appeal and if satisfied with the explanation, to decide the appeal on merits preferably within a period of six months by passing an appropriate speaking order. Dasti. May 05, 2010 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE