THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION No. 33176 of 2010 O R D E R: Heard the learned Government Pleader for Panchayat Raj & Rural Development for Respondents 1 and 2 and Smt. Ch. Vedavani, learned Standing Counsel for Respondent No.3. This Writ Petition is directed against the orders passed by the Project Director, District Water Management Agency, Anantapur District. He has drawn proceedings, dated 19.12.2010 keeping the writ petitioner temporarily out of contract employment. He has also drawn another proceedings on the same day entrusting full additional charge of the writ petitioner’s office to another candidate by name Sri Hari Babu. On the same day, a notice has also been drawn by the Project Director. He has issued the show cause notice calling for the written explanation of the writ petitioner within seven days from the date of receipt of the said notice. Several allegations have been thrown against the writ petitioner, which have been listed out in Annexure-I to the said show cause notice. Learned counsel for the writ petitioner would submit that the 2nd respondent Project Director has acted arbitrarily and whimsically in placing the writ petitioner under suspension without even providing him an opportunity to explain his position. I am afraid, this contention does not hold water. When an employee is sought to be kept out of employment by suspending him, there is no necessity to issue any show cause notice prior thereto. Placing an employee under suspension is only a step-in-aid for conducting a detailed enquiry to the allegations or irregularities said to have been committed by him. It was only intended to facilitate easy collection of material against the individual. It might also help to gather statements or material from various sources which may not be willingly coming forward to share such information so long as the employee may continue in office. Therefore, I do not find any infirmity or illegality in the 2nd respondent placing the writ petitioner under suspension. But however, one aspect needs to be pointed out. The 2nd respondent has issued only seven days’ time for the petitioner to file his response to the show cause notice dated 19.12.2010. If the writ petitioner shows proper cause within seven days from today, the 2nd respondent may entertain the same without rejecting it on the ground that the same has been filed beyond the seven-day period specified by him. The enquiry may be completed in 3 months time. With this observation, the Writ Petition stands disposed of. No costs. ---------------------------------- (NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J) 29th December 2010 Issue CC in two days ksld