Irked by the Department of Telecommunications'' failure to wind up an internal probe against one of its officials in the last seven years, during which he retired, the Central Administrative Tribunal has rejected all the allegations against him.

Terming DoT's delay as a "classic case", New Delhi-based principal bench of CAT also ordered it to release various post-retirement benefits of former General Manager R P S Panwar of Muzaffarnagar Telecom District, who retired in 2006, two years after the probe was initiated against him.

"Present is a case where we find no good reason for delaying the inquiry. Further, the present case may be a classic example where there is not even a hope that the inquiry would come to an end in near future," the Tribunal's bench, headed by its Chairman Justice V K Bali, said.