Subsistence allowance not largesse, but a right: HC

Chandigarh: Providing of subsistence allowance to a suspended employee is not a largesse, but a statutory right, and denial amounts to gross violation of the statutory and constitutional right of an employee, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled.
Justice Jaishree Thakur of the HC has passed these orders while allowing a plea filed by Jagdish Singh, a dismissed constable of Punjab police. The high court has also ordered the release of the allowance to the petitioner for the period of his suspension prior to his dismissal.
The petitioner was appointed as a constable in Punjab Police. He went on leave on April 26, 2016, for 30 days and did not present himself on duty on May 25, 2016, on account of his conviction and imprisonment for four years in a corruption case by a Kapurthala court on May 19, 2016. However, his sentence was suspended on August 9, 2016.