The Supreme Court has clarified that if a government employee remains in judicial custody for more than 48 hours after being arrested, the employee will be deemed to have been automatically suspended. The department concerned does not need to issue a separate suspension order for this. A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manmohan made the significant observation on November 6 while hearing a case related to the administrator of a government hospital in Bihar.
The matter concerns Vishwajit Singh, administrator of Samastipur Sadar Hospital in Bihar. He was accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 4,000 in return for releasing pending salary dues of Rs 36,421 to a contractual employee. After his arrest in the case, he remained in judicial custody for about 15 days. A sessions court had granted him bail, but the Patna High Court cancelled the bail about a year later.
Vishwajit Singh challenged the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court. The top court set aside the High Court order and restored his bail. During the hearing, the bench said that under service rules, suspension takes effect automatically if an employee remains in judicial custody for more than 48 hours, and no separate order is required for it.
The court also expressed serious concern that the Bihar government had withdrawn the employee’s suspension and then reposted him to the same post in the same hospital. The bench directed the state government to review the matter soon and take action in accordance with the law.
The decision is significant from the perspective of arrests of government employees and compliance with service-related rules.
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