Law: Punjab Emergency Service Leave, Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 2007

Section: 6,7

Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973

Section: 199

Punjab Emergency Service Leave, Efficiency and Discipline Rules, 2007-------Rr. 6 & 7---Special Offences and penalties---Unauthorized absence from duty--Involvement and acquittal in criminal case---Absence beyond the control of employee---Effect---Unauthorized absence when to be treated as willful absence or otherwise---Determination---Imposition of alien penalty (not provided under the prevalent Rules) applied while proceeding against the employee---Legality--Petitioner after his acquittal from criminal case filed departmental appeal, which was dismissed being barred by time and also on the ground that criminal and departmental proceedings could be initiated side by side---Validity---Absence without any application or prior permission may amount to unauthorized absence, but it does not always mean that the same is willful---Where absence is not willful, the employee cannot be held guilty of failure of devotion to the duty or behaviour unbecoming of a government servant, thus, where an absent employee comes back and seeks to join his duty, the departmental authorities are obligated to determine whether the unauthorized absence was willful or was the result of compelling circumstances beyond the control of the employee---Element of "willfulness" was never looked into in the petitioner's case as there were compelling circumstances of registration of the FIR against the petitioner, and his consequent arrest and incarceration in jail rendered it beyond his control to report to the authorities--Extreme punishment of removal had been awarded without any inquiry or determination by considering the cause of absence---High Court held that every unauthorized absence is not willful absence if the same is caused by compelling circumstances beyond the control of an employee---Petitioner had been non-suited on the ground that criminal and departmental proceedings could go on side by side and the departmental proceedings were independent of the result of criminal proceedings---Result of criminal proceedings could not have bearing on the departmental proceedings but this proposition of law was relevant where departmental proceedings and criminal proceedings were based upon…