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When a Government Servant is Arrested by Police: Useful Information

This scenario is governed by the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965.

Important Rules:
(1) Report of arrest to superiors by Government servants:-
It shall be the duty of the Government servant who may be arrested for any reason to intimate the fact of his arrest and the circumstances connected therewith to his official superior promptly even though he might have subsequently been released on bail. Failure on the part of any Government servant to so inform his official superiors will be regarded as suppression of material information and will render him liable to disciplinary action on this ground alone, apart from the action that may be called for on the outcome of the police case against him.
[MHA letter No. 39/59/54-Est.(A) dated the 25th February, 1955]
State Governments have also been requested to issue necessary instructions to Police authorities under their control to send prompt intimation of arrest and/or release on bail etc. of Central Government servant to the latter’s official superiors.
(2) Headquarters of Government servant under suspension.
An officer under suspension is regarded as subject to all other conditions of service applicable generally to Government servants and cannot leave the station without prior permission. As such, the headquarters of a Government servant should normally be assumed to be his last place of duty. 
[M.H.A. O.M. No. 39/5/56-Ests. (A) dated the 8th September, 1956]
(3) How suspension is to be regulated during pendency of criminal proceedings, arrests, detention etc.
(a) A Government servant who is detained in custody under any law providing for preventive detention or a result of a proceeding either on a criminal charge or for his arrest for debt shall if the period of detention exceeds 48 hours and unless he is already under suspension, be deemed to be under suspension from the date of detention until further orders as contemplated in rule 10 (2) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965. 
(b) A Government servant against whom a proceeding has been taken on a criminal charge but who is not actually detained in custody (e.g., a person released on bail) may be placed under suspension by an order of the competent authority under clause (b) of Rule 10 (1) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965. If the charge is connected with the official position of the Government servant or involving any moral turpitude on his part, suspension shall be ordered under this rule unless there are exceptional reasons for not adopting this course.
[M.O.F. No. F.15(8)-E IV/57, dated 28th March, 1959]

(8) Erroneous detention or detention without basis –
if a Government servant was detained in police custody erroneously or without any basis and thereafter he is released without any prosecution, in such cases the official would be eligible for full pay and allowances.
It has accordingly been decided that in the case of a Government servant who was deemed to have been placed under suspension due to his detention in police custody erroneously or without basis and thereafter released without any prosecution having been launched, the competent authority should apply its mind at the time of revocation of the suspension and re-instatement of the official and if he comes to the conclusion that the suspension was wholly unjustified, full pay and allowances may be allowed.
[Department of Personnel & A.R. OM No. 35014/9/76-Estt. (A) dated 08.08.1977]
(9) Deemed suspension on grounds of detention to be treated as revoked if conviction does not follow 
[Deptt. of Personnel & Trg. OM No. 11012/16/85-Estt. (A) dated 10.01.1986]

(11) Suspension in cases of dowry death:-
Sub-rule (1) of rule 10 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 provides, inter alia, that a Government servant may be placed under suspension where a disciplinary proceeding against him is contemplated or is pending or where a case against him in respect of any criminal offence is under investigation, inquiry or trial. Sub-rule (2) of the same rule lays done that a Government servant shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension by an order of the appointing authority w.e.f. the date of detention if he is detained in custody, whether on a criminal charge or otherwise, for a period exceeding forty-either hours.
2. As Government takes a very serious view of offences against women, Government has reviewed the provisions in the rules in regard to placing a Government servant under suspension if he is accused of involvement in a case of “dowry death” as defined in Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code. The Section reads as follows:-
“304-B (1) Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death”, and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death.
Explanation – For the purpose of this sub-section “dowry” shall have the same meaning as in Section 2 of the “dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.”
3. If a case has been registered by the Police against a Government servant under Section 304-B of the I.P.C., he shall be placed under suspension in the following circumstances by the competent authority by invoking the provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965:
(i) If the Government servant is arrested in connection with the registration of the police case, he shall be placed under suspension immediately irrespective of the period of his detention.
(ii) If he is not arrested, he shall be placed under suspension immediately on submission of a police report under sub-section (2) of section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to the Magistrate, if the report prima-facie indicates that the offence has been committed by the Government servant.
[Deptt. of Personnel & Trg. OM No. 11012/8/87-Ests. (A) dated the 22nd June, 1987]

Source: CCS Rules

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