In Brief
A railway mail service employee was suspended in 1979 for alleged involvement in forged money orders. He was later convicted and dismissed in 1997, but acquitted on criminal appeal in 2001. After reinstatement in 2003, he sought full back wages. The Supreme Court held he is entitled to back wages: (1) for the full suspension period (1979–1987) as the disciplinary proceedings were dropped in 1983 and suspension should have ended then; and (2) from acquittal (2001) to reinstatement (2003). The Court distinguished between criminal disability and wrongful departmental action, denying back wages during criminal prosecution unless the prosecution was malicious.
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