THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE V.ESWARAIAH and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION No.16792 of 2009 ORDER: (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice V. Eswaraiah) The petitioner was appointed as Secondary Grade Teacher and presently she is working as Deputy Warden of Government Tribal Welfare Aashram Girls High School, Irlapalli, Rampachodavaram Mandal, East Godavari District. While so, a charge memo was issued vide proceedings Rc.No.T1/259/2009, dated 20-03-2009, framing the following charges:- “i) Being a responsible Dy. Warden, she failed to stay the Head quarters during the absence of the Head Mistress on 18-03-2009 even though clear instructions were issued not to leave the head quarters during the absence of H.M. It clearly shows her dereliction in performing her duties as it is very inconvenience to the boarders. ii) That, she failed to implement the menu to the boarders properly as it was noticed during the visit, nearly 100 students had not been served with rice, since less rice was handed over to the cooking staff. iii) Further menu was not being implemented as Rasam instead of Sambar was being served. iv) Further the quality of cabbage that was cooked was of very poor quality. Adequate oil, onion, turmeric etc., was not present. It clearly shows her dereliction in performing her legitimate duties and attracts to CCA Rules.” Accordingly, the petitioner was directed to submit explanation within seven days as to why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against her. It appears that without submitting any explanation, the petitioner has issued a press note, dated 23-03-2009, against the higher authorities, which is against the CCA Rules. Therefore, another two charges were also framed against the petitioner, which reads as follows:- v) Being responsible employee she has given a press note in Vaartha news daily on 23-04-2009 against the higher authorities which attracts to CCA Rules. vi) That she without submitting the explanation to the charge memo, has issued press note against the authorities which clearly shows her insubordinate in performing her legitimate duties.” The petitioner was placed under suspension by proceedings, dated 20-04-2009 and the Enquiry Officer was also appointed to conduct enquiry. Aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner filed O.A.No.7312 of 2009 and the Tribunal, while dismissing the said O.A. held that charges 2 to 5 are grave in nature and whether the allegations are correct or not is the subject matter of enquiry, as the Tribunal sitting in a judicial review cannot go into the merits and demerits of the said charges. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Tribunal erroneously observed in the impugned order that serving poor quality of food to the Warders is unpardondable lapse on the part of the Wardon, as the enquiry is pending and no enquiry report has been submitted. We are of the opinion that the Tribunal has not recorded any findings, but only in the context as to whether the allegations are true or not, the said observation has been made. Admittedly, the petitioner was suspended pending enquiry and, therefore, suspension during pendency of enquiry is not a measure of punishment. In fact, it is stated that the Enquiry Officer was already appointed and the enquiry is under progress. In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case, we do not see any error apparent on the face of the record and the Tribunal has not committed any jurisdictional error or made any perverse conclusion. Therefore, we do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order of the Tribunal. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. However, the Enquiry Officer is directed to complete the enquiry as expeditiously as possible without any undue delay and uninfluenced by any of the observations made in this order as well as the order of the Tribunal. There shall be no order as to costs. ________________ V.ESWARAIAH, J ________________________ VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J Date: 17-08-2009 Prv