VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has made it clear that a government employee facing criminal charges is eligible for promotion only after cases pending against him/her are cleared. The court dismissed a petition filed by Nagarani of Kurnool district. A government employee, she was seeking promotion stating that the HC had issued a stay on a criminal case filed against her.
Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu said an interim stay order against the proceedings does not mean the accused has been cleared of criminal charges. He added they cannot demand promotion based on the stay, till the criminal proceedings against him or her are cleared. Further, the judge pointed out at that GO 66 issued in 1991, empowers the government to postpone the promotion of employees until criminal cases or inter-departmental disciplinary proceedings against them are concluded.
Nagarani was appointed as a junior assistant in AP Special Police Kurnool second battalion on temporary basis after her father YV Rangaiah, who worked as a head constable died in 1995. She was asked to complete her intermediate in three years from the date of appointment. On her request, the government gave her an extension of three years.
In 2001, Nagarani submitted her BA certificates and requested for her services to be regularised. The battalion commandant sent them for verification to BR Ambedkar University and found them to be fake. Subsequently, Nagarani was suspended and her increment was also postponed for a year. In 2002, the suspension was revoked, but a memorandum of criminal charges against her was issued. After she claimed that she was cheated by a record assistant, the commandant lodged a complaint with Kurnool IV town police. In 2004, her services were regularised. As charges against her were proved, the Kurnool Special Judicial Magistrate sentenced her to three months jail and imposed a fine of Rs 2,500.
In 2008, she filed an appeal in the Principal Sessions Judge court, which struck down the jail term and directed the lower court to give a verdict after hearing Nagarani’s argument. However, Nagarani approached the HC, which issued an interim stay on the Magistrate’s order. In 2021, Nagarani filed a petition in the HC, seeking directions for the government to promote her.