IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.5478 of 2010 Date of Decision : March 26, 2010. Ganpat Rai .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Padamkant Dwivedi, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr.B.S.Chahal, DAG, Punjab. -.- 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) Notice of motion. Mr.B.S.Chahal, DAG, Punjab, accepts notice on behalf of the respondents. In view of the nature of the order which I propose to pass, there is no necessity to seek any counter-reply from the respondents at this stage. The petitioner is serving as a Conductor in the Punjab Roadways Department. Vide orders dated 23.10.2006 and 26.10.2006 (Annexure P-1 & P-2 respectively), the punishment of stoppage of one annual grade increment with cumulative effect was imposed upon him. C.W.P.No .5478 of 2010 2 Aggrieved, he preferred a statutory appeal under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, which has been dismissed by the Appellate Authority vide order dated 2.2.2010 (Annexure P-4) being time barred. Learned counsel for the petitioner asserts and rightly so that should an opportunity of personal hearing granted to the petitioner to explain the cause of delay, he would have satisfied the Appellate Authority that the delay, if any, was for a justifiable reason and could be condoned. No such opportunity has been given to the petitioner. For the reasons stated above, the writ petition is allowed in part and the communication dated 2.2.2010 (Annexure P-4) is quashed. The Appellate Authority is directed to afford an opportunity to the petitioner to explain the delay, if any, in submission of the appeal and if satisfied with the explanation, it will decide the appeal on merits preferably within a period of six months by passing an appropriate speaking order. Dasti. March 26, 2010 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE