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Judgment
L. Narayana Swamy, CJ
The petitioner, by way of the instant writ petition, has prayed for the following reliefs amongst others:
"a) That the Hon'ble court may kindly be pleased to direct respondent to release complete service benefits i.e. Gratuity, Leave encashment, GIS, Arrear of Suspension period & arrears on account of 4914, of petitioner with interest @ 12% per annum with monthly rest immediately as service benefits has been withheld by respondent arbitrarily and illegally.
b) That Annexure PB deserves to be set aside as the same has been passed in a very mechanical manner, respondent has failed to consider that charges as framed vide office memo No. 5459 dated 05092008 has not been proved against the officials as per inquiry officer Sh. Hitender Kumar Gupta HPFS, Sh. Shakti Kumar Awasthi HPFS and said finding of inquiry officers has been endorsed by Chief Conservator of Forest, hence again for the third time putting petitioner to inquiry amounts to gross abuse of process of law."
Mr. Adarsh K. Sharma, learned Additional Advocate General, submits that the prayers made by the petitioner cannot be considered, at this stage, since the inquiry initiated against the petitioner is underway, which will be completed at the earliest and in case at the conclusion of the inquiry, the petitioner is exonerated, then the amount withheld by the respondents has to be released in favour of the petitioner, but, until and unless the inquiry is completed, it is not appropriate for the petitioner to approach this Court. A prayer has, therefore, been made by the learned Additional Advocate General to dismiss the writ petition.
We have heard learned counsel for both the parties.
The first prayer made by the petitioner is to direct the respondents to release his retiral benefits. In the facts and circumstances of the instant case, when financial irregularities are the subject matter of the inquiry, it will not be appropriate for this Court to set aside Annexure PB, at this stage, and direct the respondents to release the retiral benefits to the petitioner, however, in view of the fact that the petitioner has retired from the service in the year 2017, this Court is of the view that it would be suffice in case the respondents are directed to expedite the matter and complete the inquiry within a period of six months and thereafter, depending upon the inquiry report, pass appropriate orders. Ordered accordingly.
With these observations, the writ petition is disposed of, so also the pending miscellaneous applications, if any.