Dinesh Kumar v. Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors.

1. By a coin mon order dated 07.07.2014, the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delh i (hereinafter referred to as the learned 7ihunal) has sniissed a hatch of Original Applications (?n short '0,-`I ") preferred b y the applicants who were selected to be appointed to 1-hr. post of Fire Operators in Delhi Fire Service an short i)JY) but their services were terminated under Sub- rule (I) of Rule 5 of the Central Civil Services (Temporary Service) Rules 1965 (in short 'CCS Rules) after their driving licences were fbund to be fhrged on verification from the Licensi iig Authority.

2. By this order, we propose to dispose of the present batch of Writ Petitions pIefèrR(l by the petitioners who were the applicants before the learned Tribunal dud are aggrieved by the common order dated 0.07.2014 by some other petitioners before this Court and by order dated 21.04.2015 pissed by this Court in W.P.(C) No. 6358/2014 with other connected Writ Pelitions and order dated 30.04.201 5 in W.P.(C) 3633/2015 with other connected Writ Petitions. The Writ Petitions were dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty to challenge the order dated 15.1].20 10 passed by the Regional Transport Authority, Agra.

3. Mr. Arun Bhardwaj, the learned counsel for the petitioners, on instructions, does not wish to follow the trodden path of seeking withdrawal IF Of the present Writ Petitions with the same liberty as was granted to the Other petitioners. 'he learned counsel emphatically submits that the pet-itioners have a very good case on its merits.

4. Addressing arguments, the learned counsel submits that the petitioners were not in possession of fuke licenses as in fact the official who had issued the receipt had issued a receipt of Rs.600/- collectively for ten persons instead of taking an individual license fee at the rate of Rs.60/- Another content ion raised by the. learned counsel kr the petitioner is that the license could he termed as "fake" only wlieii the authority says that they had riot issued the license. The learned.. counsel further contends that the two grounds which have been given by the licensing I authority to term the said W P. (C) No. 4320/205. 4321/20 1 5, 433612015, 13-7/2015, 4348/2015 Page 4 o17 licenses as "fake" are that the address of the petitioners was incomplete and that individual receipts were not given, which at best could have been termed as a violation of the procedure envisaged in 9(2) of the Motor V Vehicle Act, 1988 and in any case the same could not have been termed as "fake". The learned counsel further submits that the Transport Authority was not a party before the Ld. Tribunal and therefore also no credence could be given to the stand taken by the respondents.

5. We have heard the learned counsel hr the petitioners.

6. These petitioners were seeking appointment, to the post of Fire Operators in the.DFS. To seek appointment to the said post, it was prerequisite for these petitioners to have a 1-IMV driving licence. As per these petitioners, they had obtained their driving licences from the Regional Transport Officer, Agra and when verification of these licenses was carried out by the Office of the Regional Transport Officer, Agra, vide order letter dated.15.11.2010 they reported that all the 81 driving licences which were issued in favour of all these candidates seeking appointment to the post of Fire Operator were fake and ibrged. Prior to this, there were some contradictory reports given by the Office of Transport Authority, Agra but Transport Officer, Agra found all these driving licences to be forged. The Transport Authority could also unearth the main man behind this fraud who being one oF their employee, namely Sita Ram Verna. A FIR was registered against him and lie was arrested and also placed under suspension. Before terminating the temporary services of all these petitioners, a Show Cause Notice was served upon them and it is an admitted case between the parties that these petitioners never raised any c:halle.nge to the said decision taken by the Jranspo.rt Authority of terming their licences as forged. it was already V stated abeve that it was prerequisite for these pet jl:ioners to he in possession of IiM.V driving licences and there could be no compromise on this coudtion, as these petitioners after their appointment were to operate the Fire Brigade vehicles and any com romise in this regard could prove disastrous. If was imperative for these petitioners to possess proper driving licenses. Theirs is a very sensitive job and it is pertinent that only the ablest of drivers make their way into the services of the DFS and get appointed as Fire Operators. it was for the petitioners to have taken steps to challenge the 4 decision of the Transport Authority,.Agra before the Competent Court of law and having taken no steps in this regard even after they were made aware of the said decision, by itself speaks volumes of the conduct of these W-P (C) No. 4320/2015, 4 -421/2015, 4336/2015, 437/2o 15, 434812015 MAY 01, 20LIa/v

I. petitioners. We cannot be oblivious of the fact that the Agra Transport Authority, Agra has already identified the main man behind this whole murky affair, i.e. one Sita Ram Verma against whom a criminal case was registered and he was arrested and placed under suspension.

7. To a query raised b y the Court to the learned counsel for the respondents as to whether criminal cases have also been registered against all the holders of the said forged licences, the learned counsel apprises the Court that criminal cases have been registered against all these drivers. V 8. Mr. Arun lThardwaj disputes th is ftict. However, if this is not correct, and no criminal cases have been registered against these drivers, then we direct the Police Station to investigate the role of the holders of these licenses and after investigation proceed Hi accordance with law.

9. There is no merit in the present Writ Petitions and the same are hereby dismissed. f/il KAILASH GAMBIJIR, J