Suman Baliyan vs State of Uttarakhand and Another

Servesh Kumar Gupta, J.—Heard Sri Subhash Tyagi Bhardwaj, Advocate for the applicant, Sri M.A. Khan, Brief Holder for the State/Respondent No. 1 and Sri Siddharth Sah, Advocate for the Respondent No. 2.

By way of this criminal miscellaneous application, the order of cognizance dated 12.3.2007 passed in criminal complaint case No. 742 of 2006 is under challenge. Petitioner has sought the quashing of the said cognizance order as well as the complaint itself which was filed by Sri Rajpal (private Respondent) against the present applicant and five others.

For appreciation of the genuineness of the complaint, it is indispensable to go through other relevant facts and incidents which built a complete platform for initiation of criminal proceedings by Sri Rajpal against the applicant and others.

Sri Rajpal complainant is a Class IV employee in a Junior High School whereof the applicant is the principal, Vishal Arora (accused No. 2) is the head clerk and Naresh Kumar Chopra (accused No. 4) is the life member of the Management Committee/Auditor of the school. This class IV employee Rajpal Singh is serving in the school in his capacity as such way back since 1995.

It has been contended on behalf of the applicant that Rajpal Singh is most undisciplined and work evader towards the official duties assigned to him and in order to keep him away from any disciplinary action, he is in the habit of adopting the course of initiation of criminal proceedings against the Principal and the Manager of the School so that the latter may feel the pressure exerted by Rajpal Singh through those criminal proceedings.

Learned Counsel of the Petitioner has drawn the attention of this Court towards the FIR lodged by this class IV employee on dated 25.7.1997 against Manager Ajay Kumar Singhal of the School for the offence of Sections 406, 384, 504 and 323 IPC. The Manager scared from being dragged in any legal controversy, was constrained to enter into compromise with this class IV employee and the said compromise was drafted in black and white on dated 16.8.1997. The Police on the basis of this compromise submitted a final report and Sri Ajay Kumar Singhal, Manager of the School could find solace from this treacherous attitude of this employee.

Feeling helpless before this employee, the Principal of the School wrote a letter dated 13.7.1998 to the Manager reporting the devil-dare autocratic style of working including the absence of this Rajpal Singh from his official duties and sought the instructions as to in what manner this employee should be dealt with.

It appears that when Rajpal Singh came to know about the report of the Principal so sent to the Manager, he recoursed to his own style by moving an application u/s 156(3) Code of Criminal Procedure dated 22.7.1998 against Manager, Principal, Assistant Teacher and Auditor of the School for the alleged offence of Sections 419, 466, 504 and 506 IPC and after creating pressure over all these persons, he entered into a compromise in pressure of his Union leaders on dated 21.9.1998.

Feeling again helpless due to blackmailing nuisance activities of this employee, Principal reported the matter to the Manager on dated 22.9.1998 but in the above circumstances, Manager himself did not have any remedy against the mischievous conduct of this employee. Anyhow, the Block Education Officer vide his order dated 2.3.2007 attached this delinquent employee to his office, copy whereof was sent to the District Magistrate Haridwar and District Education Officer. This Court has been apprised that the delinquent official hardly responded his duties there for few days and the Block Education Officer, in order to save his own skin, could not take any adverse action against this official.

This Rajpal Singh had also lodged a NCR on dated 4.2.2007 against the Principal for the alleged offence of Sections 323/504 IPC. When the Police, since knew his trend, did not take any action, then this delinquent official filed the instant complaint on dated 5.3.2007 alleging that on 3.2.2007, he has been brutally beaten and abused by the Principal (present applicant).

Taking all these incidents into consideration, this Court is of the view that the instant complaint is yet another rafter of the chain to put the Principal, Manager and other applicants in fear of nuisance which this Rajpal Singh has developed for them. It appears that this is a brazen divulging case how a Class IV employee can torture to the Principal, Manager and other staff members at the strength of his nuisance value and mischievous attitude and put them under a regular harassment just to evade his official duties and getting salary for no work and even without presence on his duty.

In view of the above, the instant complaint is quite baseless and sheer devoid of merit, liable to be dismissed. C482 petition is accordingly allowed. Cognizance order dated 12.3.2007 as well as the complaint case No. 742 of 2006 filed by Rajpal Singh against the applicant are quashed.