Archive · 19 Dec 2025
HC upholds benefits for acquitted Punjab FCI officer
A man named Ved Prakash Malhotra used to work for the Food Corporation of India.
In 2005, he was accused of taking a bribe and was suspended.
Later, a court found him not guilty.
The company, FCI, did not want to give him benefits for the time he was suspended.
But the high court said that because he was found not guilty with no evidence against him, the suspension time should count as time worked.
The court also said that just because someone is given the benefit of doubt, it doesn't mean the acquittal is not honourable.
So, Malhotra's family will now get the benefits for the time he was suspended.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld a single judge’s order to treat the suspension periods of a former FCI employee, acquitted in a bribery case, as duty periods.
The division bench relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Union of India versus Methu Meda (2022) to clarify that an acquittal based on facts and evidence is considered honourable.
Ved Prakash Malhotra, an assistant manager (electrical) with FCI, was acquitted in 2014 after being accused of demanding a bribe in 2005.
The FCI initially refused to grant benefits, citing that the acquittal was not honourable, but the high court rejected this argument.
The court found that the acquittal was honourable as no material evidence was found against Malhotra, and the suspension periods were regularized as duty periods.
- Who
- Ved Prakash Malhotra, a former assistant manager (electrical) with FCI, and his legal heirs
- What
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld a single judge’s order to treat Malhotra’s suspension periods as duty periods after his acquittal in a bribery case
- When
- The judgment was pronounced on Thursday, with the case dating back to April 2005
- Where
- Punjab and Haryana High Court
- Why
- The court found that Malhotra's acquittal was honourable, with no material evidence against him, and relied on Supreme Court judgments
- Case Title
- Food Corporation of India versus Ved Prakash Malhotra (LPA-54-2018)
- Acquittal Date
- August 20, 2014
- Suspension Periods
- April 7, 2005 - February 24, 2006 and August 27, 2009 - December 31, 2009
- Regulation Cited
- Regulation 66(8)(a) of the FCI (Staff Regulations), 1971
- Supreme Court Reference
- Union of India versus Methu Meda (2022)