LPA No.1886 of 2011 (O&M) -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH LPA No.1886 of 2011 (O&M) Date of Decision : 05.10.2011 Daljinder Kaur ... Appellant versus State of Punjab & others ... Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJINDER SINGH DHINDSA Present : Mr. R.S.Ahluwalia, Advocate for the appellant. **** Permod Kohli, J. This Letters Patent Appeal is directed against the judgment dated 30.08.2011 passed by learned Single Judge whereby the writ petition filed by the appellant has been dismissed. Brief facts leading to filling of present appeal are noticed hereinafter. The appellant was appointed as Clerk on 06.01.1989 under the priority category No.1 being a member of terrorist affected family. At the time of her appointment, a specific condition was incorporated in the appointment letter that she would have to pass the Punjabi Type Test within one year. As no such test was conducted at the relevant time, the appellant produced a certificate dated 30.04.1990 from a private institute namely Sethi Institute of Commercial Education, Gurdaspur of having passed the Punjabi Type test. It seems that this certificate was entered in her service book and on that basis she continued to serve the department earning annual increments and proficiency step up. In the year 2008, a complaint was LPA No.1886 of 2011 (O&M) -2- made against the appellant that she has not passed the Punjabi type test. On such complaint, an inquiry was initiated against her. The appellant participated in the inquiry. It is alleged that during the course of the inquiry only three questions were asked from her, which were answered by her. However, the inquiry officer held the charges against the appellant proved. The authorities passed an order for refixing her pay and also ordered recovery from her salary. Since this order was passed without any show cause notice, the appellant filed CWP No.17814 of 2009 before this Court, which was disposed of vide order dated 20.11.2009 (Annexure P-9) directing the respondents to issue show cause notice and thereafter take action in accordance with law. In view of the above directions, a show cause notice dated 25.02.2010 (Annexure P-10) was issued to the appellant. The appellant submitted her reply to the show cause notice. On consideration of her reply, order dated 23.06.2010 was passed whereunder all the increments released in favour of the appellant have been withdrawn and she was brought to the initial basic scale of Rs.8,240/-. Consequently, recovery of Rs.6,49,067/- was ordered against the appellant. Feeling aggrieved of the said order, the appellant filed CWP No.12281 of 2010. This writ petition has been dismissed vide impugned order dated 30.08.2011. Learned Single Judge has dismissed the petition on two accounts. Firstly, that the certificate of passing the Punjabi type test from the Sethi Institute of Commercial Education is neither recognised by the State Government nor the said institute conducted any test under the supervision of the departmental authorities. The certificate LPA No.1886 of 2011 (O&M) -3- relied upon by the appellant is bogus and fake and secondly, that the department conducted Punjabi type test so many times but the appellant did not appeared in the same. We have heard learned counsel for the appellant. There is no rebuttal to the fact that the institute wherefrom the appellant allegedly obtained a certificate of having passed Punjabi type test is not a recognized institute. Admittedly, it is a private institute. After the appointment, appellant was required to pass Punjabi type test, which was always conducted by the department. Indisputedly, Sethi Institute of Commercial Education, Gurdaspur was never authorised by the department to conduct such a type test for in service candidates. Thus, the certificate secured by the appellant and produced before this court of having passed the Punjabi type test is to be considered as bogus and fake. The findings recorded by learned Single Judge cannot be faulted with in any manner. Similarly, the second finding that the appellant failed to pass the Punjabi type test is also supported by specific averment made in the written statement in paras 3 and 4 respectively. A specific averment has been made that the department conducted Punjabi type test so many times from the date of appointment of the appellant till today but the appellant did not appear in the test and continued to enjoy the benefit of annual increments. These averments have not been rebutted by the counsel for the appellant either by filing rejoinder or placing on record any material. Learned counsel for the appellant has tried to impress upon the Court that the inquiry conducted against her was not valid. We are unable to accept this contention in view of the LPA No.1886 of 2011 (O&M) -4- unrebutted material on record to establish that the appellant is guilty of using a fake certificate to secure the annual increments. We do not find any merit in this appeal and dismiss the same. (Permod Kohli) Judge October 05, 2011 (Tejinder Singh Dhindsa) sonia Judge