An appellate authority must allow an employee to seek condonation before rejecting a delayed appeal.

The petitioner, a Class III government employee, was punished by an order dated 16 November 2022 withholding two increments without cumulative effect, despite the inquiry officer having found the charges unproved.

He later submitted a representation challenging the punishment on 6 July 2026. The Director treated it as an appeal under the Chhattisgarh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1966, and rejected it as time-barred because it was filed beyond the prescribed 45 days.

The petitioner challenged that rejection, stating that he had filed a representation rather than an appeal and had therefore not submitted an application explaining delay.

Whether the appellate authority could treat the petitioner’s representation as an appeal and reject it as time-barred without first giving him an opportunity to explain the delay.

Whether the matter should be remitted to the appellate authority to consider an application for condonation of delay.

Under Rule 23 of the Chhattisgarh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1966, an employee may prefer an appeal against a disciplinary order. Rule 25 prescribes the period for filing an appeal and gives the appellate authority discretion to condone delay where the employee provides a satisfactory explanation.

No judicial precedent was cited.

The appellate authority treated the representation as an appeal, although the petitioner had not submitted it as one or provided reasons for delay.

Once the authority chose to treat it as an appeal, it should have informed the petitioner that an explanation for the delay was required and afforded him an opportunity to provide one. The failure to do so prevented consideration of the discretion available under Rule 25.

It set aside the Director’s order dated 20 July 2026 and remitted the matter to the Director to allow the petitioner to submit an application for condonation of delay and to reconsider the appeal/representation and pass a fresh order in accordance with law.

The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.