Usha Saini v. Managing Committee, Army Public School and Anr.

1. The present petition has been filed by the petitioner praying inter alia for issuing a writ of mandamus for declaring as illegal, the action of the respondent No.1/School in continuing her under suspension on the basis of an order dated 22.09.2014. Further, the petitioner seeks directions to the respondent No.1/School to permit her to resume her duties as the Officiating Principal, with immediate effect.

2. On the last date of hearing, Mr. Khanna, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner had drawn the attention of the Court to the 2014:DHC:7315 order dated 23.09.2014, passed by the Chairman of the respondent No.1/School, calling upon the petitioner to present herself in the School from 8 AM to 12 PM, during the period of her suspension and mark her attendance on a daily basis and he had stated that the aforesaid direction flies in the face of the observations made by the respondent No.1/School in the suspension order dated 22.09.2014, whereunder it was stated that since the petitioner was the Officiating Principal of the School and in that capacity she had the power to exert influence over the witnesses during the disciplinary proceedings and tamper with the documentary evidence, she was being suspended for a period of six months or till completion of the disciplinary proceedings, whichever is earlier. It was argued that if the respondent No.1/School was of the opinion that the petitioner had to be suspended on the ground that she would be in a position to influence the witnesses or interfere with the disciplinary proceedings, then her daily presence in the School would defeat the very object of placing her under suspension.

3. In view of the aforesaid plea, Mr. Chhibber, learned counsel for the respondent No.1/School was directed to obtain instructions from his clients.

4. Today, Mr. Chhibber informs the court that the respondent No.1/School shall not insist on implementing the order dated 23.09.2014, by calling upon the petitioner to attend the School on a daily basis for a fixed time. Instead, he requests that the petitioner may be directed to mark her attendance off and on and give an undertaking to the School that during the period of suspension, she would not seek gainful employment elsewhere. He also seeks directions to the petitioner for co-operating in the disciplinary proceedings and requests that she be directed not to leave the station without prior intimation to the School.

5. Counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner has always been co-operating in the disciplinary proceedings. He submits that the respondent No.1/School has issued two charge-sheets to the petitioner, the first one is dated 22.09.2014 and the second one is dated 22.11.2014 and the petitioner had promptly replied to both the chargesheets, but the delay in taking the matter further is attributable to the School Management. He further states that the petitioner does not have any objection to marking her attendance in the School on a monthly basis and she shall give prior intimation to the School in case she proposes to go out of station and further, she shall file an undertaking with the School, as suggested above.

6. In view of the aforesaid submission made by the counsels for the parties and having regard to the fact that the disciplinary proceedings are at an initial stage inasmuch as the respondent No.1/School has not taken a final view on the replies submitted by the petitioner to both the charge-sheets, at this stage, the Court is not inclined to entertain the first relief prayed for in the petition.

7. Mr. Khanna, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner states that for the first relief, the petitioner may be permitted to pursue her remedies in W.P.(C) 304/2008, a petition filed by her against the School for seeking promotion, whereunder a status quo order passed by the court is operating in her favour.

8. In view of the aforesaid submission made by the counsels for the parties, the present petition is disposed of by quashing the order dated 23.09.2014 (Annexure D) and granting permission to the petitioner to mark her attendance in the respondent No.1/School once a month at the time of collecting her subsistence allowance. When the petitioner goes to the School to collect her subsistence allowance in the month of January 2015, she shall give in writing that she is not gainfully employed elsewhere and in case of any change of circumstances, shall inform the School in writing. Further, in the event she wishes to leave for out of station, she shall give prior intimation in writing to the respondent No.1/School and furnish the relevant details of her destination and duration of travel.

9. As the Court is informed that the petitioner has already submitted her replies to both the charge-sheets issued by the respondent No.1/School, the School Management is directed to take an expeditious decision on the show cause notices and communicate the same to the petitioner in writing, within one week from today.

10. The petition is disposed of alongwith the pending application with liberty granted to the petitioner to seek appropriate relief with respect to prayer (a) in the aforecited writ petition, as may be permissible in law. (HIMA KOHLI) DECEMBER 22, 2014 JUDGE rkb/mk