Madras High Court upholds suspension of government employee day before his retirement

Chennai: Holding that there is no hard and fast rule that an employee cannot be placed under suspension on the last day of his service, the Madras high court upheld the suspension of an employee of the Tamil Nadu civil supplies corporation (TNCSC), Thoothukudi, a day prior to his retirement. Dismissing a petition from V. Murugan, which sought to quash the suspension order, Justice
S. Vaidyanathan said, “If the prayer of the petitioner is allowed, then persons like the petitioner may commit misconduct during the last month of service.”

While Murugan challenged the validity of the charge memos and suspension order, the regional manager of TNCSC maintained that it had the power to proceed with a departmental enquiry, as one of the five charges against Murugan was that he had signed the attendance register without attending office.Observing that the suspension was not a punishment and there was no cessation of the employee-employer relationship,the judge said it was open to the department to proceed against the petitioner departmentally for the misconduct.

It shall also review the suspension order periodically.It was also open to the department to issue a chargesheet, if so advised, and complete the enquiry as early as possible preferably within one year.
It was also open to the department to conduct the enquiry on a day-to-day basis, the judge added.