What is suspension and why is it resorted? If you are an employee and suspended from service how are you to meet the situation? These and other questions are dealt with in this web-page and the next.

Suspension of an employee, during the course of his service simply means that no work is to be taken from him during the period of suspension. The employee does not work on a post in this period. If he is actually discharging the duty of a certain office prior to suspension, the order of suspension would mean that he would cease to work on and discharge the duties of that post.

Public Interest should be the guiding principle in placing a government servant under suspension, and the disciplinary authority should have the discretion to decide this taking all factors into account. However the following circumstances are indicated in which a disciplinary authority may consider it appropriate to place a Government Servant under suspension. These are only intended for guidance and should not be taken as mandatory:-

1. Cases where continuance in office of the Government servant will prejudice the investigation, trial or inquiry (e.g. apprehended tampering with witnesses or documents);

2. Where the continuance in office of the Government Servant likely to seriously subvert discipline in the office in which the public servant is working;

3. Where the continuance in office of the Government Servant will be against the wider public interest other than those covered by (i) and (ii) such as there is a public scandal and it is necessary to place the Government servant under suspension to demonstrate the policy of the Government to deal strictly with officers involved in such scandals, particularly corruption;

4. Where the allegations have been made against the Government servant and the preliminary inquiry has revealed that a prima facie case is made out which would justify his prosecution or his being proceeded against in departmental proceedings, and where the proceedings are likely to end in his conviction and/or dismissal, removal, or compulsory retirement from service.

NOTE

1. In the first three circumstances the disciplinary authority may exercise his discretion to place a Government servant under suspension even when the case is under investigation and before a prima facie case is made out.

2. Certain types of misdemeanours where suspension may be desirable in the four circumstances mentioned above are indicated below:-

   1. any offence or conduct involving moral turpitude;

   2. corruption, embezzlement or misappropriation of Government money, possession of disproportionate assets, misuse of official power for personal gain

   3. serious negligence and dereliction of duty resulting in considerable loss to the Government;

   4. desertion of duty**

   5. refusal or deliberate failure to carry out written orders of superior officers

In respect of the misdemeanour specified in sub-clauses (iii),(iv) and (v) discretion is to be exercised with care.

**When a Government servant remains absent unauthorisedly he should not be placed under suspension.

Placing an employee under suspension equally hurts the employer, who loses the services of the employee during the period of suspension, but has to continue paying him part of his emoluments (Subsistence Allowance). Government of India has therefore issued guidelines to all department heads, about the need to keep the number of officials under suspension to the barest minimum and also to reduce the period of suspension to the minimum possible term. To achieve this end the following instructions on the subject are issued.

1. While placing an official under suspension the competent authority should consider whether the purpose cannot be served by transferring the official from his post where he may not repeat the misconduct or influence the investigations, if any, in progress. If the authority finds that the purpose cannot be served by transferring the official from his post to another post then he should record reasons therefor before placing the official under suspension

2. In case where an official is deemed to have been placed under suspension under Rule 10(2) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal)Rules, 1965**, as soon as the official is released from Police Custody the competent authority should consider the case to decide whether the continuance of the official under suspension is absolutely necessary or not. If the period of suspension has already exceeded the limit of three months and the competent authority does not find justification to revoke the suspension, in such case he should immediately make a report to the next higher authority, giving detailed justification for continuing the official under suspension.

[**NOTE: Rule 10(2) of C.C.S.(C.C.A)Rules refers to suspensions of Government Servants on account of detention, when he is detained in custody on account of criminal charges or otherwise, for a period exceeding 48 hours, and suspensions ordered, when an officer is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a term exceeding 48 hours, and is not forthwith dismissed, or removed or compulsorily retired consequent to such conviction]

3. In order to keep the period of suspension to the barest minimum the competent authority should take all possible steps to file a charge sheet in a Court of Law, where an official has been placed under suspension on account of a court case, or serve the charge sheet, if the action is to be taken under the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal)Rules, 1965 within three months from the date of suspension, and in case it is not possible to do so to report the matter to higher authorities explaining the reasons for delay

The cases of loss and fraud are usually reported to the Police and the officials involved are placed under suspension. A scrutiny of these cases reveals that some of the department officials involved in such cases abscond and are not apprehended by the police. The officials continue to be under suspension till they surrender or are apprehended by the Police and prosecuted. This results in two things, firstly the cases drag on for a long time and secondly if and when the absconding officials are apprehended and proceeded against they are required to be paid the subsistence allowance, if they produce a certificate of non-employment.

After careful consideration it has been decided that in such cases the competent disciplinary authorities may take the following actions:

1. A certificate should be obtained from the local police authorities to the effect that the whereabouts of the officials concerned are not known. This certificate should be placed on record in the concerned file.

2. A brief statement of allegations and charges should be prepared and kept on file.

3. The disciplinary authority should himself record on the file the fact that the whereabouts of the officials concerned are not known and that the police authorities have also certified to that effect and therefore, it is not reasonably practicable to hold the inquiry contemplated under Rule 14 of C.C.S.(C.C.A) Rules, 1965, wherein inquiry has to be dispensed with. Reasons for not holding the inquiry should then be recorded in writing and the disciplinary authority should issue orders imposing such penalty as it deems fit. The allegations and charges have to be briefly discussed in the punishment order. Normally in such cases the punishment that could be meted out would be either removal or dismissal from service.

When an officer is placed under suspension, he has a right of appeal against the order of suspension vide Regulation 17(i)(PNB) and Rule No.,23(i) of the C.C.S.(C.C.A) Rules 1965. This is possible only if the Officer-employee/Government servant knows the reason(s) leading to his suspension, so that he may be able to make an appeal against it. The order of suspension should therefore convey precisely the reasons for suspension and in case the officer employee appeals against the order, the appellate authority should consider the appeal, in the light of provisions of Regulation 12 (PNB),or [Rule 10 of CCS(CCA) Rules] as applicable having regard to the circumstances of the case, the order of suspension is justified or not and confirm or revoke the order accordingly.

Although suspension is not one of the punishments narrated in Rule 11, an order of suspension is not to be lightly passed against the Government Servant, for the reality cannot be ignored that the suspension brings to bear on the Government servant consequences for more serious in nature than several of the penalties mentioned in Rule 11. It has a disastrous impact on the fair nature and good reputation that may have been earned and built up by a Government servant in the course of many years of service. Hence it is imperative that the utmost caution and circumspection should be exercised in passing orders of suspension.

Having understood the legal and procedural aspects of suspension, we may now consider the salient provisions under Regulation No.12 dealing with this subject in the DA Regulation of PNB. The Regulation distinguishes between suspension and deemed suspension.

An officer employee may be placed under suspension by a competent authority in the following cases.

1. Where a disciplinary proceeding against him is contemplated or pending, or

2. Where a case against him in respect of any criminal offence is under investigation, inquiry or trial.

Deemed Suspensions - These are instances where the effect of suspension takes place to an employee even without formally serving an order to that effect on the happening of specific developments as under:-

1. with effect from the date of his detention, if he is detained in custody, whether on a criminal charge or otherwise, for a period exceeding 48 hours

2. With effect from the date of conviction, if in the event of a conviction of an offence, he is sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding 48 hours and is not forthwith dismissed or removed or compulsorily retired consequent to such conviction.

Suspension becomes inoperative, when an employee under suspension is dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired. But if such dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement is set aside,

1. either on account of preferring an appeal and the appellant authority sets aside the punishment and remits the case for further inquiry, or

2. on account of decision of a Court of Law, and the disciplinary authority decides to hold further inquiry against him on the allegations on which the penalty of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement was originally imposed,

The officer employee in both the above cases to be deemed to have been placed under suspension by the competent authority from the date of the original order of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement and shall continue to remain under suspension until further orders.

The effect of this provision enables the delinquent employee, whose dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement is set aside, to be restored back to the status-quo-ante, before such dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement and continue to receive subsistence allowance from the date of the order of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement, until his suspension is finally revoked.

Obviously when the court sets aside the order of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement, the disciplinary authority can re-start fresh action, only if the order set aside by the court was on account of procedural inadequacies in the inquiry process or any technical flaw either in the charge sheet or the order of punishment. A fresh inquiry is possible to be conducted in such circumstances taking into account the objections of the Hon'ble Court with regards to the previous inquiry and avoiding those pitfalls.

There are two more sub-regulations Under No.12 i.e. 12(5)(a) and 12(5)(b). Sub-regulation 12-(5)(b) deals with the currency period of the suspension and mentions that an order of suspension or a deemed suspension under this regulation "shall continue to remain in force until it is modified or revoked by the authority competent to do so."

Sub-regulation 12(5)(b) deals with the power of the competent authority to modify or revoke an order of suspension or deemed suspension.

Deemed suspension is the provision in the Statute to give effect to suspension automatically when certain contingencies take place. It is a programmed response to the emerging situation on the part of the management, while normal suspension is a preparatory step for eventual termination of employment on the apprehended committal of serious misconduct by the employee. In both cases it hurts the management financially, but the device is intended that the employee does not continue in service and uses his position to tamper material records or influence witnesses. It is also intended to diffuse the situation, when certain acts of the employee involving serious misdemeanours result in public scandal, and brings adverse publicity to the organization. It is a device for a quick counter action to restore public confidence, with the firm message that management will not tolerate misconduct by employees. Suspension is not otherwise a punishment. And it can be ordered by the management without going through elaborate formalities that are involved in charge sheeting and punishing an employee. But suspension should be followed by either a prosecution (if not already taken place) of the employee or charge sheeting of the employee for major penalty.

We have understood the legal and conceptual scope of suspension in this chapter. We will now proceed in the next chapter to a study of how to meet the situation when an officer is placed on suspension.