THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No. 17276 OF 2008 O R D E R: The petitioner is working as a Driver in the Midhani Depot of APSRTC. On 14.12.2006, he was entrusted with the duty of driving a bus on route 104/A, i.e. Midhani bus depot-Almasguda. The bus was checked at stage 4, i.e. Champapet. A charge sheet dated 17.1.2007 was issued to the petitioner, alleging that he had deviated from the prescribed route. Through a separate order of the same date, the petitioner was placed under suspension. The petitioner submitted his explanation, and an enquiry was conducted. A final order dated 17.5.2007 was passed, imposing the punishment of deferment of annual increment, for a period of one year, with cumulative effect, and directing that the period of suspension shall be treated as ‘not on duty’, for all purposes. Departmental appeal to the Divisional Manager and revision to the Regional Manager, proved futile. Hence, this writ petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner had to slightly deviate from the route, on the instructions of the conductor and in view of the fact that the prescribed route was blocked at Champapet area, on account of the break down of a loaded truck. He submits that the conductor himself agreed in the preliminary enquiry that he directed the driver to take the bus from a different route, in view of the roadblock, and that there is no justification for the impugned order. Learned Standing Counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, submits that the petitioner was not supposed to deviate from the prescribed route, and the respondents had imposed the punishment, commensurate with the misconduct, on the part of the petitioner. The only allegation against the petitioner is that he has deviated from the stipulated route. The petitioner was driving a local service. It is not uncommon that roadblocks occur, on account of various reasons, within the city limits. In his explanation, the petitioner clearly stated that there was a roadblock, in the form of a break down of a lorry, and that he had to deviate from the route, on the instructions of the conductor. A preliminary enquiry was conducted by the Assistant Manager of the Depot. Part of the preliminary report reads as under: “… More over, the conductor himself stated that he has asked the driver to proceed via DMRL. Accordingly, the driver operated the service. As the same tantamounts unathorised instruction without any endorsement of the depot authorities.” In the domestic enquiry, the fact that in the star document itself, the conductor has made endorsement to the effect that there was break down of a brick lorry on the route at Yadagiri Theatre, and in that view of the matter, the service was deviated, via ring road, was also discussed. The enquiry officer, however, expressed the view that the endorsement may have been made at a later point of time, as an after thought. However, the fact that the conductor himself admitted that he directed the driver to deviate from the route, and also the fact that roadblock was on account of failure of a brick lorry on the route; were not at all dealt with, much less disputed. If the view of the respondent is to be accepted, the petitioner and the conductor must have stopped the bus, at the roadblock, and waited for the instructions, from the higher authorities. It is a matter of common knowledge that even on long routes, particularly, between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, deviations to the extent of several kilometers, are made, whenever traffic jams occur due to accidents, etc. The respondent proceeded on hyper-technicalities and imposed a major punishment, without issuing a show-cause notice, under clause (13) of Regulation 12 of APSRTC Employees (Classification, Control and Appeal) Regulations, 1967. It was not even suggested that either any inconvenience was caused to the traveling public, or any monetary loss was caused to the Corporation. For the foregoing reasons, the writ petition is allowed, and the impugned order is set aside. There shall be no order as to costs. _________________ 8th August 2008 PAN