IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE TENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION NO : 3146 of 2007 Between: 1 The State of A.P. rep by its Secretary to Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. 2 The Director of Health, A.P., Hyderabad. 3 The Regional Director of Medical and Health Services, Kadapa, Kadapa District. 4 The District Medical and Health Officer, Anantapur District at Anantapur. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND R. Srinivasulu, S/o. K. Satyanayarana Rao, PHC Garladinne, Anantapur District, (now under of termination) D.No. 6-10, Satyanandanagar, Bellary Road, Anantapur. .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate writ or direction more particularly one in the nature of "Writ of Certiorari" calling for the records relating to and connected with order dated 22-9-2006 in OA No. 1893 of 2005 on the ﬁle of the Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad and to quash or set-aside the same by holding as erroneous and contrary to law to and pass such order or orders the Hon'ble Court may deem ﬁt proper in the circumstances of the case Counsel for the Petitioner:GP FOR SERVICES I Counsel for the Respondent No.: . The Court made the following : ORDER: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) Aggrieved by the order of the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad (for short ‘Tribunal’) in O.A. No. 1893 of 2005 dated 22-09-2006, the State has preferred the present writ petition. The respondent-applicant invoked the jurisdiction of the Tribunal contending that his termination from service was illegal. Respondent states that he was appointed as attender on compassionate grounds on retirement of his father due to medical invalidation in the year 1993, that his father submitted Transfer Certiﬁcate stating that the respondent studied at Zilla Parishad High School, K.Ramapuram, Anantapur District upto IX class and that he was placed under suspension on 19-01-2002 alleging that he produced bogus study certificate. Later, the respondent submitted his explanation on 27-02-2002 stating that he was not aware of the certiﬁcate produced by his father at the time of his initial appointment but he actually studied at Government Junior College for boys at Ananthapur upto IX class and produced Transfer certiﬁcate dated 14-01- 1991 issued by the Principal, Government Junior College, Anantapur and requested for his regularization and reinstatement into service. Subsequently, the fourth petitioner requested the Superintendent of Police to enquire whether the respondent had studied at Government Junior College, Anantapur and the Superintendent of Police submitted his report to the eﬀect that the respondent studied at Government Junior College, Anantapur upto IX class. Respondent further states that he submitted a Gazette notiﬁcation to the fourth petitioner, wherein it was notiﬁed that the applicant R.Srinivasulu, S/o. R.Venkat Rao IX Class, Attender, P.H.C. Garlandinne, henceforth known as Srinivasulu, S/o. R.Satyanarayana Rao, for the purpose of correction of wrong entries occurred in school records due to parental mistake. Respondent states that the petitioners without conducting any enquiry terminated his services, which is in violation of principles of natural justice and contrary to Rule 20 of CCA Rules. Petitioners/Respondents ﬁled counter in the O.A. and stated that the respondent was appointed on compassionate grounds as his father retired on medical invalidation, that he absconded from duty on many occasions without prior permission from the competent authority and later, he was kept under suspension from 17-02-1996 to 22-06-1996 and was reinstated and posted to P.H.C. Thimmampally. It is also stated that the respondent at the time of his initial appointment submitted transfer certiﬁcate, wherein it is stated that he studied at Zilla Parishad H.S. K.Ramapuram, Anantapur upto IX class, that he also submitted attestation forms through Medical Oﬃcer, P.H.C. Garladinne, which were sent to the Superintendent of Police for veriﬁcation of antecedents, and on receipt of antecedent report from the Superintendent of Police, Anantapur, the respondent submitted T.C. showing that he studied at Government Junior College and not at Zilla Parishad High School, K.Ramapuram. It was further stated that a perusal of the Gazette publication dated 27-05-2002 and the Transfer Certiﬁcate ﬁled by the respondent-applicant would reveal that the date of birth mentioned in the certiﬁcates produced by the respondent on two occasions was same i.e. 18-02-1975, but the police investigation reveals that the date of birth of the respondent was 01-07-1975 and, therefore, the two certiﬁcates produced by the respondent were manipulated for securing the job. Petitioners state that though the name of the father of the respondent was changed as indicated in the gazette produced, the diﬀerence in the date of birth was suspicious and taking into consideration all the records, reports and the Government memo dated 17-04-1995, the respondent’s services had been terminated. The Tribunal after elaborate consideration of the arguments on either side observed that the respondent submitted attestation forms mentioning that he studied at Zilla Parisahd High School, K.Ramapuram, Anantapur District, but, later changed his plea to the eﬀect that he studied at Government Junior College for Boys, Anantapur. The Tribunal having held that the charge levelled against the respondent was grave, observed that the services of the respondent cannot be terminated without following due process of law and held the order of termination was not valid. The Tribunal while aﬀording opportunity to the respondent to put forth his case directed the authorities to reconsider the order of termination within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the order. Learned Government Pleader for Services-I submitted that since the respondent has produced bogus study certiﬁcate at the time of his initial appointment, the petitioners are justiﬁed in terminating his services and, therefore, the order of the Tribunal holding that the order is termination is not valid is liable to be set aside. Learned counsel for the respondent submitted that the respondent worked in the department for over 9 years and after a lapse of 9 years, the petitioners initiated disciplinary proceedings and terminated his services without following due process of law, which is in violation of principles of natural justice. Admittedly, the petitioners terminated the services of the respondent without completing the departmental enquiry that was initiated against the respondent. Therefore, the Tribunal was justiﬁed in holding that the order of termination was not valid and directing the petitioners to complete the departmental enquiry initiated against the respondent, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the order, after affording opportunity to the respondent. In the circumstances, it cannot be said that the order of the Tribunal suﬀers from any such inﬁrmity necessitating interference of this Court. Hence, we do not find any merits in the writ petition. The Writ Petition fails and is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. ________________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED,J ____________________ C.V.RAMULU,J Dt:10-07-2008 usd