Orissa High Court Bins Proceedings Against Retd Chief Engineer

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has quashed departmental proceedings against former chief engineer of Odisha government’s Energy department Nalinikanta Mohapatra for misconduct pertaining to lack of supervision in erection of towers in 1987.

A single judge bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy stated that the petitioner retired from service on attaining the age of superannuation on May 31, 2011 and the proceeding in question was initiated on July 26, 2018.

“This court after going through the provisions contained under rule 7 (2) (b) (ii) of the rules is of the view that no proceeding can be initiated in respect of any event which had taken place prior to four years of the retirement of the petitioner,” Justice Satpathy noted.

Mohapatra had challenged the proceedings in the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) and an interim stay order on the proceedings was issued in 2018. The pending case was transferred to the high court after SAT was abolished in 2021.

Mohapatra’s counsel argued that the proceedings violated the clear provisions contained under Rule 7 (2) (b) of the OCS (Pension) Rules, 1992.

“Disciplinary proceedings shall not be in respect of any event which took place more than four years before such institution of the case,” the provision in the rule stated.