Chief secy told to take action against officials for failing to proceed against corruption allegations

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the chief secretary to take prompt disciplinary action against the delinquent officials of the education department who allowed an officer facing corruption charges to retire without any disciplinary proceedings.

The direction came during a recent hearing on a petition of the retired officer, Niaz Ahmed Qureshi, who had approached the high court to get pensionary benefits. He submitted that he retired from the government service in 2020 but his8 pensionary benefits had been withheld by the respondent school education and literacy department on the allegation that he was involved in issuing illegal payments to contractors and caused a loss of over Rs30 million to the government exchequer.

The petitioner submitted that he served as an assistant engineer (BPS-17) civil education works sub-division in Bulri Shah Karim, Tando Mohammad Khan district, and was allowed to retire from the government service on attaining the age of superannuation in January 2020 without conclusion of disciplinary proceedings within a statutory period.

He said his pensionary benefits were withheld by the respondents on account of the pendency of inquiry proceedings against him. A counsel for the petitioner submitted that the high court had already issued same directions in an identical matter and allowed pensionary benefits to that petitioner and the case of the present petitioner was akin.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that pensionary benefits could not be withheld on account of the pendency of a criminal case and/or departmental proceedings after the lapse of two years from the date of retirement.

The counsel submitted that if the determination of the amount of pension or gratuity admissible to a civil servant was delayed beyond one month of the date of his retirement, he shall be paid provisionally such anticipatory pension or gratuity as may be determined by the prescribed authority, according to the length of service of the civil servant which qualified for pension or gratuity.

He submitted that under the law, if a government servant who had been suspended due to an inquiry pending into his conduct attained the age of superannuation before the completion of the inquiry, the disciplinary proceedings against him shall abate and the government servant shall retire with full pensionary benefits and the period of suspension shall be treated as a period spent on duty.

A provincial law officer opposed the petition and submitted that the pensionary benefits of the petitioner had been withheld on account of pending disciplinary proceedings and the petitioner was issued a show-cause notice on May 3, 2019 due to some illegal advance payments issued by the petitioner to contractors.

The state counsel submitted that though the petitioner had reached the age of superannuation, his retirement benefits had been kept in abeyance till the finalisation of departmental proceedings against him.

He referred to the West Pakistan Civil Service Pension Rules and submitted that the government reserved the right of recovery from the pension of the government pensioner on account of losses found in judicial or departmental proceedings to have been caused to the government by the negligence or fraud of such government pensioner during their service, provided that such departmental proceedings shall not be instituted after more than a year from the date of retirement of the pensioner.

A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon after hearing the arguments observed that prima facie, the petitioner had a qualifying length of service to his credit and he stood retired in January 2020 but not a single penny had been paid to him, which had caused hardship to the petitioner who then approached the court for redress.

The high court observed that the departmental proceedings against the petitioner had not yet been initiated and finalised even after three years of his retirement and the respondents just issued him a show-cause notice, the fate of which was shrouded in mystery and this all showed negligence of the education department.

The bench observed that primarily, the departmental proceedings had no legal consequence and the subsequent departmental orders could not come in the way of the petitioner to claim pensionary benefits. The SHC observed that prima facie, it was the fault and negligence of the education department which failed to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner in time and allowed him to retire from government service in 2020 and thereafter waited for unknown reasons and withheld his pensionary benefits on account of alleged payments to contractors.

The high court stated that prima facie, there were mere allegations against the petitioner and there was no conviction by a competent court of law, due to which the court could not presume his guilt.

The bench disposed of the petition directing the education department to issue pensionary benefits to the petitioner. In the meantime, the high court directed the chief secretary to take prompt disciplinary action against all delinquent officials who in their lethargic attitude failed and neglected to take disciplinary action against the petitioner within the stipulated time and allowed the petitioner to retire from service in 2020. The court ordered that such disciplinary proceedings shall be initiated against them forthwith and culminated within a reasonable time after providing a meaningful hearing.