The Lieutenant Governor And ANR. v. Nani Gopal Das And ANR.

IN THE HIGH COUR AT CALCUTTA

[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI] ...

MA/7/2021 The Lt. Governor & another ...Appellants Vs.

Nani Gopal Das & another ... Respondents Mr.Krishna Rao, Advocate ... for the appellants Mr.M.Tabraiz, Advocate .... For the respondent No.1 November 08, 2021 [GNC] Item No.5 By consent of the parties the appeal itself is taken up for hearing.

By the impugned order dated 19th February, 2021, the learned Single Bench while permitting the respondent No.1 to inspect the documents as sought for, had also directed at page 4 that final order in the departmental proceeding may be passed but shall be kept in abeyance until the disposal of the criminal proceedings. It is now well settled that both the departmental and criminal proceedings can continue parallelly. The dicta, is inter alia, available in the case of Captain M.Paul Anthony Vs Bharat Gold Mines and another reported in (1999) 3 SCC 679. The same holds good even till date.

This Court is therefore of the view that the employer by refusing to stay departmental proceedings, is of the considered view that the charges against the petitioner can be decided, independent of criminal proceedings. Hence, the employer should be entitled to not only pass the final order in the disciplinary proceedings but also shall give effect to the same notwithstanding pending criminal proceedings.

It is submitted by Mr.Tabraiz, the counsel for the respondent No.1/writ petitioner that inspection of the documents as sought for by the respondent No.1/writ petitioner has been allowed by the employer pursuant to the order of the learned Single Bench.

In that view of the matter, MA No.7/2021 shall stand disposed of setting aside, only in part, the said impugned order to the extent indicated hereinabove.

The appeal stands disposed of.

Since the connected application i.e. CAN/1/2021 has already been disposed of, no further order need be passed on the same. (Rajasekhar Mantha, J. ) (Amrita Sinha, J. )