CWP No.16291 of 2010.doc - 1 – HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** CWP No.16291 of 2010 (O&M) Date of Decision: 10.09.2010 **** Kamal Dev . . . . Petitioner VS. Punjab State Warehousing Corp. & Anr. . . . . . Respondents **** CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT **** 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? **** Present: Mr. Vivek Sethi, Advocate for the petitioner ***** SURYA KANT J. (ORAL) (1). The petitioner served as a Technical Assistant in the respondent-Corporation till his retirement w.e.f. 31.07.2007 on attaining the age of superannuation. While in service, the petitioner was served with a charge-sheet dated 02.03.2007 (Annexure P2) alleging shortage of 11355 ‘A’ Class gunnies thereby causing loss of `2,37,433.05 paise to the Corporation. The petitioner submitted his reply which was found unsatisfactory and an Enquiry Officer was appointed who vide his report dated 16.04.2008 (Annexure P5) held the petitioner guilty of the charges. A show cause notice was issued and upon consideration of the petitioner’s reply thereto, respondent No.1 – Managing Director of the Corporation vide order dated CWP No.16291 of 2010.doc - 2 – 23.09.2008 (Annexure P9) imposed a penalty of recovery of `2,37,433.05 on him. The statutory appeal preferred by the petitioner has also been turned down by the Executive Committee of the Corporation vide impugned order dated 18.02.2010 (Annexure P15) after observing as follows:- “The appeal preferred by Sh. Kamal Dev, T.A. (retd.) was heard by the committee, which had members i.e. Chairman, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation and Sh. D.S. Garewal, I.A.S. Director, Food & Supplies Department was heard on 07.01.2010. On this date, the appellant requested that he may be given sometime so that he can produce copies of the gate pass on which he had given receipt of having received empty gunnies. This request of the appellant was granted and he was asked to produce the documentary evidence on the next date of hearing on 28.01.2010 to clarify as to how much empty gunnies were sent to the mandi and the entire such gunnies which were used by him in the purchase of Paddy. In this regard, he was allowed to inspect the record at State Warehouse, Zira vide order letter No.PWSC/Admn/E-5/41266/10 dated 01.07.2010. Shri Kamal Dev, TA (Retired) appeared today before the committee on 2nd January 2010. He failed to produce any documentary evidence as promised by him to show as to how much `A’ class empty gunnies were sent to the mandi for purchase of paddy and he had fully used these gunnies or the balance gunnies which were deposited by him with Warehouse Manager, Zira or with District Manager, Ferozepur. Therefore, committee hearing the appeal has reached to the conclusion that the recovery of Rs.2,37,433.05 imposed on Shri Kamal Dev TA CWP No.16291 of 2010.doc - 3 – (retired) is correct and he could not be given any benefit in the matter. Therefore, the orders of the Managing Director are kept intact the committee orders the rejection of the appeal filed by the employee.” (2). Aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court. (3). I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner at some length and perused the record. (4). The solitary contention raised on behalf of the petitioner is the alleged non-observance of the principles of fair and just play. It is averred that the petitioner had issued the disputed ‘A’ Class Gunnies to the Warehouse Staff at Zira after obtaining acknowledgements on the backside of the ‘gate passes’. It is also averred that the petitioner requested the Enquiry Officer vide application dated 07.12.2007 (Annexure P16) to summon the gate passes for the year 2002-03 to prove that the gunny bags were actually issued and utilized in the godown at Zira. (5). After giving my thoughtful consideration to the contention noticed above, I do not find any merit in the same. Suffice it to observe that nothing precluded the petitioner from summoning the official witness(es) along with records of Gate Pass etc. from the State Warehouse, at Zira, as defence witness in order to show that the gunny bags were actually utilized. No CWP No.16291 of 2010.doc - 4 – such attempt was made by the petitioner. His own case appears to be that the gate passes are missing and are not readily available. It may be mentioned here that the petitioner was issued 1,77,500 gunny bags for procurement of wheat from State Warehouse at Zira, out of which 166251 bags were duly utilized as per the record. Taking into consideration the scope of interference by a writ Court in such like concurrent finding of fact, no case to issue the desired writs is made out. (6). Dismissed. (SURYA KANT) JUDGE 10.09.2010 vishal shonkar