20-yr ordeal over, MHA worker gets relief from HC

It cost R K Gupta 20 nail-biting years and his career to prove his employer, the Union Home Affairs Ministry...

It cost R K Gupta 20 nail-biting years and his career to prove his employer, the Union Home Affairs Ministry, wrong in branding his wife8217;s job as a receptionist at the Egyptian Embassy a 8220;breach of national security8221;. Thanks to a recent intervention from the Delhi High Court, the 53-year-old Assistant with the MHA is waiting for a promotion as Section Officer, says his lawyer Raman Oberoi.

Gupta8217;s troubles started in March 1980 when his wife was selected as a receptionist with the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt here. It is mandatory that a staffer should apply to the 8220;Ministry/Department concerned for permission before wife or dependant intends to take up employment with a foreign mission in India or with any foreign organisation8221;.

Though Gupta applied to the Home Ministry about his wife8217;s appointment he did not receive any reply for the next eight years. He was in for a surprise when in 1988, the Intelligence Bureau took an objection to his wife working with a foreign mission and sent him a communication on May 16, 1989 to 8220;direct8221; his wife to leave her job. But Gupta8217;s wife refused to quit.

The ministry again chose not to act for another four years, until on March 5, 1993, it filed a chargesheet against Gupta for 8220;disobeying the directions of the Government of India8221;. Back to sleep again, the ministry 8220;woke up8221; on May 2, 2000 to find Gupta guilty and promptly dismissed him.

Gupta went on to fight the ministry before the Central Administrative Tribunal for another eight years, at the end of which the Tribunal ordered the Government to reinstate him in February this year.

The decision saw the ministry rushing to the High Court for reprieve. The court, in a recent order, dismissed the ministry8217;s allegations.

Justice Lokur observed, 8220;If Gupta was guilty of not taking prior permission, action should have been taken by the Ministry in March/April, 1980 itself or immediately thereafter. There is absolutely no justification for them to wake up after eight years and then seek to stress upon a condition which is today no longer applicable.8221;

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Dismissing the ministry8217;s challenge, Justice Lokur concluded that 8220;having kept silent for eight years, if not 13 years in all, the ministry has given tacit consent to Gupta8217;s wife working as a receptionist in a foreign mission in New Delhi.8221;