Chandigarh, Oct. 15 -- The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Chandigarh Bench, has quashed the suspension of an Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) officer, observing that the authorities cannot give new reasons to justify an order after it has been passed. The tribunal also set aside an order in which the officer's request was rejected by the EPFO to continue working from Chandigarh instead of shifting his headquarters to Chennai/Puducherry during the suspension period. The order was passed on Tuesday on a plea filed by Kumar Punit, a regional provident fund commissioner-I, challenging his suspension on July 27, 2026, and the subsequent decision to change his headquarters. Advocate Arvind Moudgil appeared for Punit. The tribunal noted that the suspension order only stated that disciplinary proceedings were being considered against Punit. It did not mention the specific allegations against him or the material on which the decision was based. The EPFO later cited messages allegedly posted by Punit in a WhatsApp group on July 22 to justify the suspension. According to the EPFO, Punit had shared news reports about GST officials and made remarks such as "This is just a tip of the ice berg" and "I am really aghast". However, the tribunal said an order must be judged on the reasons recorded when it was issued. Referring to a Supreme Court judgment in Mohinder Singh Gill v. Chief Election Commissioner, the tribunal held that the WhatsApp messages could not, by themselves, justify the suspension when they had not been mentioned in the original order. The tribunal also questioned the decision to shift Punit's headquarters to Chennai/Puducherry, around 2,500 km from Chandigarh. Punit had alleged that the action was motivated by personal vendetta and followed a legal notice he issued to an additional central provident fund commissioner. The EPFO maintained that its head office learnt about the notice only after the suspension order had been issued. Allowing Punit's plea, the tribunal quashed the suspension order dated July 27 and the August 15 order rejecting his representation....