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MCA/169420/2008 2/ 2 ORDER
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
MISC.CIVIL
APPLICATION No. 1694 of 2008
In
SPECIAL
CIVIL APPLICATION No. 8657 of 2007
=========================================
P
A GEORGE - Applicant(s)
Versus
STATE
OF GUJARAT & 1 - Opponent(s)
=========================================
Appearance :
MR
BD KARIA for Applicant(s) : 1,
MS NISHA
PARIKH, AGP for Opponent(s) : 1,
MR JB PARDIWALA for Opponent(s) :
2,
=========================================
CORAM
:
HONOURABLE
MR. JUSTICE MOHIT S. SHAH
and
HONOURABLE
MR.JUSTICE H.B.ANTANI
Date
: 14/11/2008
ORAL ORDER
(Per
: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MOHIT S. SHAH)
The
petitioner is a Judicial Officer under suspension since December
2002. The suspension is pending departmental inquiry against the
petitioner. In connection with an issue arising during the course of
the inquiry proceedings, the petitioner filed a petition which was
disposed of after giving certain directions. The petitioner moved
the Hon’ble Supreme Court by filing Special Leave Petition (C) No.
23382 of 2004. While disposing of the said petition, the Hon’ble
Supreme Court made the following observation in the order dated
25.01.2004 :-
However,
we expect the High Court to conclude the DE proceedings expeditiously
and we expect the petitioner also to cooperate in the DE
proceedings.
2. It
is not the case of the respondents that the petitioner has not
co-operated in the departmental proceedings, but still the
departmental proceedings are pending against the petitioner.
Therefore, the petitioner filed Special Civil Application No. 8657 of
2007 for seeking directions to complete the departmental inquiry
expeditiously and that petition was disposed of with a direction to
the respondents to complete the pending departmental inquiry against
the petitioner (DE No. 2 of 2003) as expeditiously as possible and in
any case by 31.12.2007.
3. No
application was moved by the respondents for seeking any extension of
the above time limit and the present application has been filed for
further direction for expeditious completion of the inquiry.
4. It
is unfortunate that the petitioner, a Judicial Officer, is under
suspension since December 2002 and the departmental proceedings are
not yet completed in spite of the observations made by the Hon’ble
Supreme Court as far back as in 25.11.2004 and the mandatory
direction given by this Court on 23.04.2007.
5. While
disposing of this application with a direction to the respondents to
complete the pending departmental inquiry against the petitioner (at
least upto the stage of the decision of the Disciplinary Committee)
by 31.12.2008, this Court expects that departmental inquiries pending
against Judicial Officers under suspension should be completed as
expeditiously as possible and preferably within two years from the
date of suspension, excluding the time taken by the delinquent either
in the departmental proceedings or in litigation challenging the
order of suspension or any order passed in the course of the
departmental inquiry.
(M.S.
SHAH, J.)
(H.B.
ANTANI, J.)
mrpandya*
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