The Allahabad High Court has stayed the suspension of home guard commandant Manish Dubey, who was accused of having an affair with a married woman PCS officer- SDM Jyoti Maurya. The court directed that the petitioner be permitted to discharge his duties and pay his salary regularly.
Alok Maurya, a safai karmachari, who is a woman SDM Maurya’s estranged husband had alleged that Manish Dubey and his wife are having an illicit relationship and have hatched a conspiracy against him.
Hearing a writ petition filed by Manish Dubey, Justice JJ Munir directed the state government counsel to file a reply (counter affidavit) within three weeks and also directed to list this case on August 27, 2024, for the next hearing.
Manish has filed a writ petition challenging his suspension dated November 7, 2023, passed by the additional chief secretary (Home Guards), Lucknow.
While passing the above directives, the court observed, “Most of the charges, on the foot of which the petitioner has been suspended, include some kind of immoral behavior by the petitioner in communicating on Whatsapp with a married woman, chatting with her and like allegations”.
“The instructions that are received, which cull out a summary charges against the petitioner, do not show that on account of whatever the petitioner does in his private life is directly interfering with the discharge of his duties”, the court added.
The court in its order passed on July 26 further added, “Also, most of the imputations are rather indeterminate or vague. There is only one charge that speaks about the petitioner leaving headquarters to go to a hotel in Delhi. The petitioner is posted at Ghaziabad. It does not appear if for the short spell of time involved in travelling to Delhi from Ghaziabad without permission to leave headquarters can lead to the imposition of a majority penalty.
It is relevant to mention that earlier at one stage, SDM Jyoti Maurya had filed a divorce petition at Family Court, Prayagraj seeking a divorce from her estranged husband – Alok Maurya, a safai karmachari.
Alok Maurya was appointed as Safai Karmachari in the Panchayati Raj department in the year 2009. Thereafter, he got married to Jyoti Maurya in the year 2010. According to Alok, he made all possible arrangements for the study of his wife at Prayagraj. However, he alleges that after clearing the PCS examination, when she was appointed as SDM in the year 2015, her (Jyoti’s) attitude changed towards him and his family members and now she wanted divorce from him.
He haf also alleged that home guard commandant – Manish Dubey has an affair with her estranged wife Jyoti and they together have hatched a conspiracy against her.