HC upholds CAT order against compulsorily retiring of officer

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal's order setting aside the Centre's decision of compulsorily retiring a senior woman bureaucrat on the grounds of professional misconduct and dereliction of duty.
The court also set aside the government's order for recovery of Rs 1,89,476 from the IAS officer on the charge of unauthorised withdrawl of the amount from Haryana government towards payment of house rent to the central government.
Upholding the CAT's April 2011 order setting aside the Centre's March 2007 decision to compulsorily retire from service Umesh Nanda, a bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Pratibha Rani dismissed the appeal filed by the government against the Tribunal's order.

"We concur with the view taken by the tribunal (CAT) that the penalty imposed is the result of a totally misdirected evaluation of the evidence by ignoring the salient features of the evidence," the bench said.
"If the penalty pertaining to the charge-sheet of May 25, 1999 has to be set aside, the inevitable consequence thereof would be to expunge adverse remark in the ACR proforma for the year in question, which reflection we have even otherwise found to be, on a conceptual concept, a faulty entry."
The court said it has to be concluded that "there is a taint" in the decision making process pertaining to Nanda being compulsorily retired.

Nanda, a 1974 batch Haryana cadre IAS officer, was appointed as Director of Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) in April 1997.
According to the charge sheet, he had illegally withdrawn Rs 1,89,476 on October 29,1998 from the funds of HIPA for making payment on her "personal liability" of house rent to Centre which tantamount to "embezzlement" of government money.