Court No. - 5 Case :- WRIT - A No. - 19754 of 2024 Petitioner :- Deepak Gupta Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Siddharth Khare,Sr. Advocate Counsel for Respondent :- Abhishek Srivastava,Adarsh Bhushan,C.S.C. Hon'ble Ajay Bhanot,J. Heard Shri Ajitendra Singh, learned counsel holding brief of Shri Siddharth Khare, learned counsel for the petitioner, Ms. Kritika Sinha, learned counsel holding brief of Shri Abhishek Srivastava, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 2, 3 and 4, Shri Adarsh Bhushan, learned counsel for the respondent no. 5 and learned Standing Counsel for the State. By the impugned order, a major penalty withholding of two increments have been imposed upon the petitioner. Shri Ajitendra Singh, learned counsel holding brief of Shri Siddharth Khare, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the order was passed depicting a procedure not known to law. No oral evidence was led before the enquiry officer. The petitioner was not given an opportunity of cross examine the said witnesses. Attention has been called to the pleadings in this regard to this writ petition and the counter affidavit. Ms. Kritika Sinha, learned counsel holding brief of Shri Abhishek Srivastava, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 2, 3 and 4 fairly submits that on the basis of counter affidavit that no oral enquiry was conducted in as much as the departmental witnesses were not produced before the enquiry officer. In the facts and circumstances of this case, the departmental witnesses were liable to be produced to establish the charges against the petitioner. In absence thereof, it cannot be said that the charges were proved as per applicable standards of evidence. In this wake the enquiry proceedings are vitiated. The consequential order of punishment is hence liable to be quashed and is quashed. The matter is remitted to the respondent no. 3, Chairman, U.P. Power Corporation Limited, Lucknow with the following directions: 1. The disciplinary authority shall depict the names of the proposed witnesses in the chargesheet which shall be served afresh upon the petitioner. The documents proposed to be relied upon against the petitioner shall also be served upon the petitioner prior to the commencement of the enquiry in pursuance of these directions. 2. The enquiry proceedings shall thereafter commence and the departmental witnesses shall be produced before the enquiry officer. 3. The petitioner shall be given an opportunity to cross examine the said witnesses. 4. The enquiry officer shall fix specific dates in the enquiry proceedings which shall be intimated in advance to the petitioner. 5. The petitioner shall cooperate in the enquiry proceedings. 6. The procedure shall be completed within a period of four months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. It is clarified that this Court has not entered into the merits of the charges against the petitioner. The writ petition is allowed to the extent indicated above. Order Date :- 14.2.2025 Vandit Digitally signed by :- VANDIT AGRAWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad