IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA LPA No.928 of 2007 Rajendra Mishra S/o late Ram Byas Mishra, R/O Village- Muswat, P.O. Sarao, P.S. Natwar, District- Rohtas. -Appellant Versus 1. The State Of Bihar 2. Secretary, Primary Education, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 3. Director, Primary Edication, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. 4. District Superintendent of Education, Rohtas. 5. The District Education Establishment Committe Through its Chairman, the DDC, Rohtas. 6. Block Education Extionsion Officer, Bikramganj, Rohtas. 7. Area Education Officer, Dehri cum Enquiry Officer, At + P.O. + P.S. Dehri, District-Rohtas. 8. Headmaster, Bishampur Middle School, Dharupur, Bikramganj, Rohtas. 9. District Treasury Officer, Rohtas. 10. District Provident Fund Officedr, Rohtas, Sasaram. 11. The Accountant General, Bihar, Patna. --Respondents For the Appellant : Mr. Ashutosh Ranjan Pandey For the State : Mr. Anil Kr. Upadhyay, SC-20 9 28.06.2011 The present Letters Patent Appeal is filed against the order dated 26th September, 2007 passed by learned single Judge in CWJC no. 15111 of 2006. The appellant has chosen to question the order passed imposing the punishment of deprivation of 10% 2 of his pension in view of the fact that the charges levelled against him stood proved. The grounds raised by him before the learned single Judge as well as before this Court is that the enquiry was conducted in violation of principle of natural justice as he was not afforded to cross-examine the three teachers who have given an evidence before the Enquiry Officer. The perusal of the order of the learned single Judge go to show that the Department has not afforded an opportunity to the appellant herein to cross- examine those winesses who deposed before the Enquiry Officer. Under the above circumstances, the entire enquiry stands vitiated as violative of principle of natural justice. Even though we are conscious of the fact that the matter be remanded back to the Department to start an enquiry afresh at the stage of cross-examination of the witnesses but the counsel for the appellant submits that it will be difficult to get the teachers for cross-examination for the reasons seven years have elapsed. Under the above circumstances, we are of the opinion, because of the passage of time that the appellant has not been given an opportunity of cross-examining the three teachers deposed before the Enquiry Officer, the 3 enquiry stands vitiated and is violative of principle of natural justice. Accordingly, the order passed by the disciplinary Aurhtority, contained in Annexure-13, is quashed and the order of the learned single Judge is set aside. The Letters Patent Appeal is allowed to the above extent. AAhmad/ (T. Meena Kumari, J.) ( Akhilesh Chandra, J.)