MUHAMMAD TARIQ vs DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, NAROWAL etc.
This petition for leave to appeal arises from a judgment of the Punjab Service Tribunal, which upheld the dismissal of the petitioner, a Junior Clerk, from service. The petitioner was dismissed following charges of misconduct, specifically for causing injuries to a colleague and refusing to relinquish charge upon transfer. Before the Supreme Court, the petitioner did not contest the merits of the dismissal but requested a modification of the penalty from dismissal to removal from service. The Assistant Advocate General, Punjab, consented to this request. Considering the peculiar facts, circumstances, and the background of the occurrence, the Supreme Court found a case for the reduction of the extreme departmental penalty. Consequently, the petition was converted into an appeal and partly allowed. The Court held that the penalty of dismissal from service should be converted into removal from service, modifying the orders of the departmental authorities and the Service Tribunal accordingly. This decision underscores the Court's discretion to mitigate departmental punishments where the circumstances warrant a less severe penalty, even when the underlying misconduct is not contested.
- Can the Supreme Court convert a penalty of dismissal from service into removal from service in a service matter?
- Is the Supreme Court empowered to modify departmental penalties based on the peculiar facts and circumstances of a case?
Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, J.--The petitioner seeks leave to appeal from judgment dated 12.6.2002, passed by the Punjab Service Tribunal, Lahore, in Appeal No, 2632/2000.
2. The petitioner, a Junior clerk, in the office of Deputy Commissioner, Narowal was dismissed from service by order dated 16.7.1999. His appeal was also dismissed by the Commissioner, Gujranwala Division, on 17.11.1999 on charges of misconduct for causing injuries to his colleague and for refusing to relinquish the charge on his transfer.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner does not press this petition on merits but seeks the indulgence of this Court for modification of extreme penalty of dismissal from service and its conversion into removal from service.
4.The learned Assistant Advocate General, Punjab has approved the request of the petitioner.
5.We have heard the learned ASC and the Assistant Advocate General, Punjab. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and the background in which the occurrence had taken place the case of reduction of extreme departmental penalty seems to have made out. Therefore, this petition is converted into appeal and is partly allowed. The penalty of dismissal from service of the petitioner as awarded by the departmental authorities and the Tribunal is converted into removal from service. The orders of the departmental authorities and the Tribunal shall also stand modified accordingly.