No Promotion For Govt Employees Facing Trial In Criminal Case: Orissa High Court

Cuttack: The Orissa high Court has ruled that government employees facing trial in criminal cases are not entitled to get either regular or ad-hoc promotion. The promotion would be subject to the outcome in terms of acquittal of the criminal case against a government servant, the HC said.

A division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice G Satapathy passed an order in this regard while adjudicating a batch of writ petitions filed by government servants facing trial in criminal cases and departmental proceedings.0

The court also cited a Supreme Court judgment (26th April, 2017) which ruled that there was no right of the government servant to be considered for promotion during the pendency of either departmental proceedings or criminal proceedings or both against such government servant.

The counsel appearing for the respective respondents argued that on account of the long years of the pendency of the criminal case and with the impending prospect of many of the respondents superannuating in the immediate future, one equitable solution would be for this Court to direct the appellants to grant them ‘ad hoc’ promotions.

None of the notifications issued by the General Administration Department envisages or permits grant of promotion to a government servant either on regular or on ad hoc basis during the pendency of a criminal case involving such government servant, the order noted

“It is clarified that as and when the criminal proceedings end in favour of the government servant by way of an acquittal and such government servant also stands exonerated from the departmental proceedings then notwithstanding the superannuation of such government servant, the notional benefits attaching to the promotion that is due to the government servant would be calculated and the pension fixed accordingly”, the HC said in its order.