Vijay Shankar vs State of Up and 3 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Vijay Shankar vs State of Up and 3 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Direction that the proper inquiry be concluded within three months after submission of the petitioner's reply to the charge sheet, with the petitioner to cooperate in the inquiry proceedings; writ petition disposed of with no order as to costs.

Issue for consideration

Whether the charges levelled against the petitioner could be examined by the Court at the present stage of the writ petition challenging his suspension. +1 more

Court's answer

The charges levelled against the petitioner cannot be examined at this stage, as the explanation and documents relied upon by the petitioner are matters of defence in the departmental inquiry, during which he will have ample opportunity to prove his innocence.

Ratio / Principle

Interest of justice would be subserved by a direction that the proper inquiry shall be concluded within three months after submission of the petitioner's reply to the charge sheet.

Key takeaways

The petitioner shall cooperate in the inquiry proceedings.ratio¶19
With the aforesaid observations and directions, the writ petition stands disposed of.ratio¶20

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Allahabad High Court (Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan, J., Court No. 52), by order dated November 13, 2025, disposed of Writ-A No. 15912 of 2025 filed by Vijay Shankar against the State of U.P. and three others, praying for quashal of the order dated 08.09.2025 passed by respondent no. 3 placing the petitioner under suspension, allegedly without any proper inquiry, after an incident in which a ten-year-old child lost his life amid alleged fraud concerning electricity connections in the area where the petitioner had been posted only a year earlier. The Court held that the charges levelled against the petitioner could not be examined at that stage, the explanation and documents relied upon by him being matters of defence in the departmental inquiry, where he would have ample opportunity to prove his innocence. Respondents' counsel (Devesh Vikram), on oral instructions, undertook that the charge sheet would be served within two weeks. Directing that the proper inquiry be concluded within three months after submission of the petitioner's reply to the charge sheet, and that the petitioner cooperate in the inquiry proceedings, the Court disposed of the writ petition with no order as to costs.

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

WRIT - A No. - 15912 of 2025

Vijay Shankar

.....Petitioner(s)

Versus

State Of Up And 3 Others

.....Respondent(s)

Counsel for Petitioner(s) Counsel for Respondent(s)	: Nagendra Kumar, Neeraj Srivastava : C.S.C., Devesh Vikram

Court No. - 52

HON'BLE MRS. MANJU RANI CHAUHAN, J.

The present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with a prayer to quash the impugned order dated 08.09.2025,passed by respondent no. 3 vide which the petitioner has been placed under suspension.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was posted at the place of incident only one year ago, therefore, he was not aware of fraud in the area regarding electricity connections. However, after the aforesaid incident took place, in which ten year old child has lost his life, an information was given to the superior officer, who instead of taking action and making improvements, has placed the petitioner under suspension without getting any proper inquiry conducted. He further submits that the suspension order does not mention about any inquiry against the petitioner, therefore, in view of the settled position of law, the suspension order is illegal, arbitrary and bad in the eyes of law, hence, liable to be quashed.

Various other facts and circumstances have been pleaded on behalf of the petitioner in the present writ petition for challenging the order of suspension. The charges so levelled against the petitioner are also disputed by the learned counsel for the petitioner and in that regard reliance has been placed upon various documents brought on record.

On the basis of oral instructions, learned counsel for the respondents Mr. Devesh Vikram submits that the charge sheet will be given to the petitioner within a period of two weeks, thus, no interference is called for

WRIA No. 15912 of 2025

2

at this stage.

This Court is of the considered opinion that the charges so levelled against the petitioner cannot be examined at this stage, inasmuch as the explanation and documents relied upon by the petitioner can be a defence in the departmental inquiry, as during departmental inquiry, the petitioner will have ample opportunity to prove his innocence.

Having heard learned counsel for the parties and perusal of record, this Court finds that interest of justice would be subserved by issuing a direction that proper inquiry shall be concluded within three months after submission of reply to the charge sheet by the petitioner. Needless, to say that the petitioner shall cooperate in the inquiry proceedings.

With the aforesaid observations and directions, the writ petition stands disposed of.

No order as to costs.

(Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.)

November 13, 2025

DS

Digitally signed by :- DIGAMBER SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad