J&K&L High Court: Maternity Leave is a Constitutional Right and Cannot be Treated as State Charity  ||  P&H High Court: Second Anticipatory Bail Plea is Not Maintainable After Supreme Court Rejection  ||  Bombay High Court: No Prior Sanction is Required to Prosecute Police For Custodial Assault  ||  Allahabad High Court: Strict Proof of Marriage is Unnecessary if Couple Lived as Husband and Wife  ||  Delhi High Court: UP Passport Disputes Cannot be Filed in Delhi Only Because MEA is Based There  ||  Bombay High Court: Revenue Officers Cannot Decide Caste Status to Remove Tribal Land Protections  ||  Calcutta High Court: Punjab National Bank Liable to Compensate Farmers For Crop Insurance Lapse  ||  Calcutta High Court: Joint Settlement of Liquor Licence is Allowed if All Eligible Heirs Consent  ||  Delhi High Court Holds Multiple Sclerosis is a Specified Disability under the RPWD Act  ||  Allahabad High Court: An Alibi Must be Proved at Trial and Cannot be Accepted by the IO Alone    

Kavita Bhagwat Marathe Vs. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited and Ors. - (High Court of Bombay) (30 Sep 2022)

Findings recorded in the disciplinary enquiry without following principles of natural justice are perverse

MANU/MH/3502/2022

Service

By the present petition, the Petitioner challenges order, by which penalty of dismissal from service is imposed upon her. It is submitted that, the findings recorded by the enquiry officer and disciplinary authority are vitiated on account of absence of any evidence being recorded in the enquiry. He would submit that the impugned orders suffer from the vice of perversity.

Present Court is appalled by the manner in which the disciplinary proceedings have been conducted by the Respondent Company. The charge of abuse and assault has been held to be proved without examining any witness. Such course of action is sought to be justified relying on provisions of the service Regulations 2005, which do not contain any provision for examination of prosecution witnesses and for providing an opportunity to the delinquent employee to cross examine them.

In the decisions of the Apex Court in the case of Roop Singh Negi vs. Punjab National Bank and Ors., it has been held that the findings recorded in the disciplinary enquiry without following principles of natural justice become perverse. In the present case, there is complete non observance of principles of natural justice while holding the petitioner guilty of misconduct alleged. Consequently, the dismissal order deserves to be set aside.

Since the penalty is being set aside on account of non-observance of principles of natural justice, the correct course of action to be adopted is to permit the Respondent-company to conduct de novo enquiry into the charges by following the principles of natural justice. Since, the Respondents are to be given an opportunity to conduct de novo enquiry, the intervening period from the date of dismissal to the date of reinstatement is required to be treated as suspension at the moment. Depending upon outcome of the de novo inquiry, decision to treat suspension period as duty or otherwise can be taken. Petition allowed.

Tags : PENALTY   TERMINATION   LEGALITY  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2026 - All Rights Reserved