Md. Nizamuddin vs Bharat Coking Coal Limited and Others

Narendra Nath Tiwari, J.—The Petitioner has prayed for quashing the impugned notice of his premature retirement dated 24th August, 2010 (Annexure2), whereby the Petitioner has been arbitrarily superannuated with effect from 31st December, 2010 whereas the Petitioner''s due date of retirement is December, 2018, as per the entries in his service record.

According to the Petitioner, the Respondents have illegally forced him to retire from service before attaining the age of retirement.

Earlier when the case was taken up, it was emphatically asserted by the Respondents that according to the service record the Petitioner has attained the age of superannuation on 31st December, 2010 and he has accordingly retired with effect from that date.

The RespondentBCCL, thereafter, was asked to produce the original statutory FormB Register and the Respondents have produced the original FormB Register in the Court and a photo copy of the relevant page has been filed in this Court and is kept on record. On perusal of the entry in respect of the Petitioner, I find that as on 4th March, 1981, his age was recorded 25 years. According to the Respondents the Petitioner''s date of birth on that basis comes to 4th March, 1956. The Respondents have admitted that according to the said entry the Petitioner shall retire on 4th March, 2016 and he has been made to retire with effect from 31st December, 2010 by Annexure2 by mistake.

Learned Counsel for the Respondents conceded that the Petitioner is entitled to continue in service till March, 2016 and Annexure2 was wrongly issued contrary to the entry of date of birth of the Petitioner recorded in statutory register FormB, which 2is he authentic service record of the employee.

The Respondents had earlier filed their counter affidavit, stating, inter alia, that in all the records of the Petitioner, his initial entry relating to date of birth has been penned through and new entry has been made without any signature of any person. So far as the entry in the Register FormB is concerned, the date of birth/age of the Petitioner is not legible. The same was disputed by the Petitioner. The Respondents were then asked to produce the original Register FormB, which has been produced in this Court today. On perusal of the original Register FormB, I do not find any cutting in the register. The entry in FormB register regarding the age of the Petitioner is also clearly legible. The statement made in the counter affidavit by the Respondents is, thus, apparently false and baseless.

Having heard the parties and considering the facts andmaterial on record, I find that the impugned notice dated 24th August, 2010 (Annexure2) is wholly arbitrary, perverse and illegal. Annexure2 is, thus, quashed. The writ petition is allowed.

It is made clear that the Petitioner shall be deemed to be in continuous service and shall further continue in the service till attaining the age of superannuation which admittedly is said to be 4th March, 2016. The Respondents shall allow the Petitioner to resume his duties forthwith and shall pay his arrears of salary with interest at the bank rate within two weeks. The Respondents shall also pay a quantified sum of Rs. 50,000/to the Petitioner for causing him loss by forcing him to file this writ petition and mental agony and harassment by permanently retiring him. The said amount shall be paid to the Petitioner along with arrears of his salary within the said period. The RespondentBCCL shall be at liberty to recover the said sum from the erring official(s).

Since the impugned order has not only put an employee to harassment, the irresponsible act of concerned officer has also brought disrepute to the BCCL, which is a Central Government Undertaking. The ChairmancumManaging Director is, therefore, directed to set up an enquiry and take deterrent action against the person responsible for issuing 3Annexure2.

The office of this Court shall draw a suo motu proceeding of contempt and issue notice to Ghanshyam Prasad Sinha, son of Late M.P. Sinha, resident of DGMS Colony, near Shiv Mandir, P.O., P.S. & District Dhanbad, working as Welfare Inspector at Kusunda Area of M/s. BCCL, who appears to have sworn a false affidavit supporting Annexure2, contrary to the relevant entry in the statutory Register FormB