The appellant, Zakaullah Bajwa, a P.C.S. Officer/Magistrate 1st Class, Narowal has assailed the order of his suspension, dated 4-6-1998 passed by respondent No, 1 .
2. The facts of the case which led him to approach this Court are that after selection by Punjab Public Service Commission as Extra-Assistant Commissioner, he was deputed to undergo training w,e,f, 8-9-1996 till June, 1997. During training, he was not prided with official accommodation and had to put up in a rented house. He moved number of applications for sanction of House Rent and for sanction of conveyance allowance. The officers of the P.C.S. Academy, however, denied him the relief despite his persistent requests. On completion of his training, he was posted out to a district.
After waiting for a sufficiently long time, he was obliged to move a complaint before the Provincial Ombudsman.
3. On receipt of notice from that office, the Academy dug out a case of alleged submission of fake T.A. bills against the appellant and procured orders of the authority for proceeding against him under Efficiency and Discipline Rules and also his suspension orders w,e,f, 4-6-1998.
4. The officer claimed before the Hon'ble Provincial Ombudsman that he had sufficient proof of mal-practices, irregularities and embezzlement of funds by the officers of the P.C.S. Academy.
Visualizing that the officer had also filed appeal challenging his suspension orders before this Tribunal, the Hon'ble Provincial Ombudsman was pleased to let the matter remain with the Service Tribunal for disposal as the appellant was a civil servant and the matter pertained to his terms and conditions of service. The complaint was disposed of with the following observations:-- "Before parting with this complaint, I may observe that the Additional Chief Secretary, may inquire into the allegations levelled by the complainant into the affairs of the defunct P.C.S. Academy, particularly non-payment of T.A./D.A. to the trainees and take steps deemed appropriate in the matter."
5. As referred to above, during proceedings before Hon'ble Ombudsman, the respondents initiated disciplinary proceedings against the appellant for submitting bogus and fake T.A. bills when he was deputed to Sargodha in connection with Moharrum duties. On the basis of the request of the Academy, the case was processed and the appellant was placed under suspension w,e,f, 4-6-1998 on the following charge:-- "Your services were placed at the disposal of Deputy Commissioner, Sargodha by S&GAD for Moharrum duties for 25 days (from 2-5-1997 to 26-5-1997). On your return to P.C.S. Academy, you submitted a TA/DA bill/claim amounting to Rs,13.311, the break-up of which is as under:-- (1)Charges of stay at Tabash Hotel, Sargodha Rs. 8775 (2)25 dailies @ Rs. 120 per day Rs. 3240 (3)Journey by own car 432 KM @ 3.00 p.m. Rs. 1296 On verification of your TA/DA bill/claim, the Deputy Commissioner, Sargodha reported that you did not stay at Tabash Hotel, Sargodha, rather you were provided residence in Building Department's Rest House by the District Administration, Sargodha. It is evident that your bill of Rs,8,775 for your proclaimed stay at Tabash Hotel, was a fake one."
6. It is noteworthy that when the appeal came up for initial hearing, it was thought appropriate by this Court to let the matter be decided by the Provincial Government instead of dragging the Government into litigation which did not appear to be in good taste and the matter was adjourned with the following orders:-- "The appellant is a fresh enterant to P.C.S.. Executive. After hearing him at length, it appears that being a novice, he picked up an unnecessary controversy with Director Training, P.C.S. Academy. In the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Government is expected to take rather a lenient view and re-examine the case exercising, what is called, its parental authority qua an officer who is just at the threshold of his service."
7. Notwithstanding the aforesaid order of this Court, the Provincial Government thought advisable to proceed against him under Efficiency and Discipline Rules and appointed Mr. Muhammad Ansar Khan, Member-IV (Inquiries) as Inquiry Officer.
8. The respondents in their comments took up the stand that the appellant had submitted bogus T.A./D.A. bills claiming an amount of Rs,13,311. According to the Government, the Officer was provided with official accommodation in Rest House and had not stayed in Tabash Hotel, Sargodha as claimed by him. This fact had been verified by the Deputy Commissioner and so also by the Management of the Hotel, as such the claim of Rs,8,775 was absolutely fake.
8. During the course of proceedings, the Inquiry continued paralally. The Inquiry Officer after recording the evidence produced by the prosecution gave a clear finding that the appellant had submitted genuine bill whereas the officers of the Academy had managed to forge fake documents in order to falsely implicate him. After thoroughly scrutinizing the facts on record, the Inquiry Officer concluded with the following findings:-- "All this deals a serious blow at the prosecution case. Needlesss to say that the prosecution case must stand on its own legs. The evidence of Court witnesses cannot be utilized to make up the deficiencies of the prosecution case. The accused officer might have got a bogus bill prepared but the evidence on record makes the whole prosecution case doubtful. He was accommodated in the Buildings Rest House for a short period and that too unofficially. No formalities were observed and no entries appear to have been made in the Rest House Register. The prosecution has badly failed to prove its case, as a matter of fact, it has not come forward with clean hands. Moreover, it is a case of discrimination. In these circumstances, the charge against the accused officer is not proved beyond doubt.."
9. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that he possesses brilliant educational record to his credit. After doing his F.Sc. from Government College, Lahore, he did his B.Sc. from University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and then did his Masters in English. He appeared in the competitive examination for the Provincial Civil Services in 1995 and attained a very good position. He joined service as Extra-Assistant Commissioner on 28-7-1996 and was sent to undergo training from 8-9-1996. According to rules, he was entitled to official accommodation and in its absence was entitled to House Rent allowance and conveyance allowance. He approached the authorities for a number of times with the aforesaid request but their response was never favorable. On completion of training, he was posted at Rawalpindi. When he failed to get relief, he was obliged to move the Provincial Ombudsman and from this, his troubles really started. The authorities in the Academy and perhaps some other quarters in the Secretariat took it ill and a false charge of submission of fake T.A. bills was levelled against him and an inquiry was initiated under Efficiency and Discipline Rules. This was sherry out of malice. After inquiry, he has been exonerated. The suspension orders, therefore, merit to be set at naught.
10. The learned D.A., however, pointed out that the suspension was ordered in pursuance of the report made by the Academy authorities genuinely believing the allegations to be correct and now when the Additional Chief Secretary has exonerated him, the matter should come to an end.
11. Arguments have been heard and record perused with the help of the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned District Attorney. In this case, it appears that the officials of the Academy had not acted fairly and instead of agreeing to the request of the appellant which appeared to be legitimate, they tried to level false allegations of submission of fake bills against him which was clearly unbecoming of a civil servant and this has been particularly noted by the Inquiry Officer after thoroughly probing into the matter and scrutinizing the evidence before him They appear to have misled the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary who believing the truth of the allegations had suspended an innocent officer. It appears that there is substantial truth in the assertions made by the appellant that his real trouble started when he approached the Provincial Ombudsman. This was perhaps unbearable for the Academy officers who thought it against their dignity and perhaps personal ego to allow a retired Judge of the Supreme Court to sit over their decisions. It was really comforting to find out that the officer like Ansar Khan are still available with the Government to call a spade a spade, otherwise, if the Inquiry Officer had joined hands with the administration, poor officers were left with no other alternative.
12.The record shows that a suggestion was made by the Under Secretary (A-1) on 5-6-1998 that before proceeding under Efficiency and Discipline Rules on the complaint of the Academy, it was appropriate to hear Mr. Bajwa, but this does not appear to have taken proper notice of by the senior officers. Had the view point of the appellant been heeded with little care by any senior officer, things would have not reached this unhappy end. Mr. Bajwa has all along been crying hoarse that there have been financial irregularities to a large extent in the affairs of the Academy and they required a thorough probe by the Administration. Instead of taking serious notice of his assertions, he had been put to harassment with false assertions made by the Academy.
13.At the very outset, when the appellant desired that notice be issued to the respondents calling their comments, it was thought appropriate by this Court not to adjudicate this matter and leave it to parental authority of the Government, but this perhaps was not taken serious notice of either.
14.All the laws, rules and regulations are made to facilitate public administration, for the smooth functioning of state institutions and to provide comfortable working conditions to public functionaries. Each and every institution of the country should, therefore, do its utmost to ensure that matters are settled equitably and properly at their own end and the litigants are not made to go to the Courts of law which entails in a lot of financial burden and so also wastage of time of litigants and that of the administration. It need not be emphasized that power vesting in the administration is a sacred trust which ought to be exercised faithfully, diligently and honestly. No personal ire, illwill or prejudice should influence the exercise of such authority or power. Much water had flown down the bridge and now it is high time for us to realize that the Courts, Tribunals or any other institution set up under the Constitution or law are to be honoured and respected. If an officer is obliged to file a claim before the Ombudsman or any other Tribunal, the orders of such institution should be honoured and executed like a decent and civilized citizen whether that institution/tribunal is or is not possessed of powers to proceed against the defiant party under penal laws.
15.In this case what appears to have happened is that the Academy made it a matter of nose and honour for them to disallow the claim of the appellant which otherwise, appeared to be legitimate and genuine. They did not remain content with that much but went ahead in concocting and procuring false evidence against the appellant to teach what they might have considered a 'befitting lesson'.
16.In this case, the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary appeared to have believed the report of the academy in good faith and had gone ahead accordingly. They are seasoned and mature administrators and it would have been fair, just and very much in good taste to have heard the officer before taking strict action under Efficiency and Discipline rules as was proposed by the office. The report submitted by the Inquiry Officer is unequivocally clear and speaking one. This has been believed by the Additional Chief Secretary who has ordered the exoneration of the appellant.
17.As a result of this discussion, the appeal is accepted, and action of the Government is declared to be without lawful authority.
18.As held by the Humble Provincial Ombudsman, inquiry into the affairs of the Academy appears to be very essential.