THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT APPEAL NO.1142 OF 2011 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice Ghulam Mohammed) This writ appeal is directed against the Judgment rendered in Writ Petition No.2743 of 2006 on 12.04.2010 by a learned single Judge of this Court. 2. For convenience sake, the parties are referred to as they are arrayed in the writ petition. The respondents in the writ petition are the appellants before us. 3. The writ petitioner joined the service of the APSEB as a Sub-Engineer on 21.06.1993. The State Government has taken a policy decision through their G.O.Ms.No.214 dated 31.09.1996 permitting its servants to avail leave for a maximum period of five years for taking up employment elsewhere. These orders of the State Government are adopted by the APSEB through their BPMS No.34 dated 12.05.1997. Initially APSEB has been bifurcated into Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (APGENCO), a generation company and Andhra Pradesh Transmission Company (APTRANSCO). APTRANSCO subsequently bifurcated into three distribution companies (DISCOMS). 4. The writ petitioner sought for ‘No Objection Certificate’ for obtaining a passport to enable him to secure employment abroad. The Director (Personnel) through his memorandum dated 07.12.1998 accorded ‘No Objection Certificate’ for obtaining passport under Foreign Service Provision subject to certain conditions. Condition No.4 thereof read as under: “iv) That he should apply for leave in advance for the purpose of visiting U.A.E and get it sanctioned by the competent authority and obtain proper relief and clearance certificate from the concerned officer for availment of leave indicating that there are no dues outstanding against him.” 5. On 12.10.1999, the writ petitioner sought for permission for obtaining employment in U.A.E. It was forwarded to the General Manager (Personnel) of the first respondent/Corporation on 25.10.1999. The petitioner sought for leave for a period of five years commencing from 01.11.1999 up to 31.10.2004. He was relieved of his duties by his immediate superior officer namely Additional Assistant Engineer, Operation, Ghanpur. Accordingly, the writ petitioner proceeded to U.A.E. and joined the service of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and intimated the said fact back to his employer on 07.12.1999. He has returned to India and reported to duty on 28.10.2004 duly seeking posting orders. No such posting orders were issued to the writ petitioner but however, more than one year thereafter, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him through memo dated 16.12.2005. The Superintendent Engineer was appointed as an enquiry officer and he framed a charge through his proceedings dated 24.12.2005 alleging that the writ petitioner was grossly negligent in proceeding on EOL (Extraordinary Leave) for five years from 03.11.1999 to 31.10.2004 without proper sanction of leave from the competent authority. That charge-sheet gave rise to the institution of W.P.No.2743 of 2006. 6. Sri B. Lakshma Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for the respondents/appellants would strenuously contend that the writ petitioner is a regular employee of the Corporation and hence, he could not have accepted employment abroad without proper sanction from the competent authority. This apart, the writ petitioner could not stayed away from his duty for five long years without securing sanction of the Extraordinary Leave. The writ petitioner could not have assumed the sanction of leave on his own and he ought to have awaited the sanction of such a leave for him to proceed to abroad and take up employment. 7. We have considered the entire material available on record. The following few facts stand out. The writ petitioner has made the purpose of his visit to U.A.E. very clear even at the time when he sought for ‘No Objection Certificate’ for securing passport and the same was accorded by the Director (Personnel) of the respondents/Appellants Corporation on 07.12.1998. As was noticed already, condition No.4 incorporated therein, the said ‘No Objection Certificate’ require the writ petitioner to apply for leave in advance and get it sanctioned by the competent authority and obtain proper relief and clearance certificate from the concerned officer indicating that there are no dues outstanding against him. The writ petitioner did apply for leave in advance on 12.10.1999. The said application has been forwarded to the General Manager (Personnel) of the Corporation on 25.10.1999. The petitioner applied for leave for five years commencing from 01.11.1999 up to 31.10.2004. There is no material on record to indicate that the competent authority has rejected to sanction the said leave applied for by the writ petitioner. There are also no reasons set out as to why the leave application of the writ petitioner was not attended to by the competent authority from 25.10.1999 onwards. This apart, he has been relieved of his duties by his superior officer on 03.11.1999. He has joined the service of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and intimated the said fact on 07.12.1999. There is no material on record as to what action has been initiated in the matter, thereafter, till such time, the writ petitioner returned to India and reported to duty on 28.10.2004 seeking posting orders. Thus, the respondents/appellants have not taken any action against the petitioner between 03.11.1999 up to 28.10.2004. It is only on 16.12.2005 that the competent authority has decided to initiate disciplinary action against the petitioner. There is no material on record as to why the respondents/appellants had taken such a long time to initiate any action against the petitioner, if his absence from service has caused any difficulty. In these set of circumstances, the learned single Judge has considered that the writ petitioner cannot be subjected to disciplinary proceedings to cover up the lapses on the part of the offices of the respondents/appellants-Corporation itself. While directing the petitioner to be permitted to join duty forthwith, the learned single Judge has granted the benefit of continuity of service and other attendant benefits but, denied him back wages for the period from 28.10.2004 till he rejoins duty. 8. The conduct of the writ petitioner all through appears to be a bonafide conduct. He has guided his affairs based upon the policy decision of the State Government contained in their G.O.Ms.No.214 dated 03.09.1996 which was adopted by the APSEB by their BPMS No.34 dated 12.05.1997, which enabled in all its employees to take up employment elsewhere for a period of five years. He has intimated his employer initially of his desire to secure employment in U.A.E. and then secured passport. Thereafter, he has also applied for leave for five years commencing from 01.11.1999 through his communication dated 12.10.1999. He was also relieved by his superior on 03.11.1999. There are no payments outstanding or dues by the writ petitioner to the Corporation. The writ petitioner has also intimated the factum of joining the services of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority through his communication dated 07.12.1999. 9. Therefore, there is nothing that the writ petitioner has done which can attract disciplinary action against him. Further, he has reported to duty on 28.10.2004 which is well before the expiry of the five years period of leave applied for by him. In these set of circumstances, it will be difficult to hold that the writ petitioner is guilty of any misconduct. Hence, the charge-sheet drawn against him pursuant to the initiation of disciplinary proceedings is clearly unjust. Hence the learned single Judge rightly allowed the writ petition. Even then the learned single Judge has balanced the claims of both sides and granted the benefit of continuity of service to the writ petitioner and at the same time denied him back-wages for a period from 28.10.2004 onwards. 10. Since we have not found any attributable fault on the part of the writ petitioner in the entire episode, we do not find any merit in this writ appeal and hence, we dismiss this writ appeal but, however, without costs. __________________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J ________________________________ NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J 8th December, 2011 kk/sp