IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civl Writ Petition No.9428 of 2011 Date of Decision : August 19, 2011. Ramesh Chander Arora .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Kapil Kakkar, Advocate, for the petitioner. -.- 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? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner impugns the order dated 15.2.2002 (Annexure P-7) whereby the punishment of recovery has been imposed upon him after the departmental enquiry and much after his retirement. It is alleged that no sooner the charge-sheet dated 5.7.2001 was served upon the petitioner, he impugned the same before this Court in CWP No.1301 of 2002. It is also alleged that the punishment order passed during the pendency of the aforesaid writ petition was conveyed to the petitioner at a belated stage only when the respondents filed the reply in the above mentioned case. On this premise, it is contended that there is no delay and laches on the part of the petitioner who has been permitted by this Court vide order dated CWP No.9428 of 2011 [2] 29.3.2011 (Annexure P-8) to withdraw the previous writ petition with liberty to challenge the impugned recovery order. The punishment order passed by the Disciplinary Authority is admittedly appealable under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970. The explanation of the apparent delay and laches cannot be outrightly rejected or accepted by this Court on consideration of the scant material on record. The appropriate recourse for the petitioner, therefore, would be to file a departmental appeal alongwith an application for condonation of delay. The petitioner shall disclose as to when he came to know about the impugned order and how the appeal preferred by him is well within limitation from the date of knowledge of the order. Owing to the fact that the petitioner is a retired person, the Appellate Authority shall consider his application for condonation of delay sympathetically and make an endeavour to decide the appeal on merits as early as possible and preferably within a period of six months from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. Ordered accordingly. Dasti. August 19, 2011 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE