JUDGMENT

DESAI, J.:— Appellant Rajinder Kumar Kindra was inducted as a peon by M/s Raymond Woollen Mills Ltd. (employer for short). In 1972 he was promoted as a salesman and at the relevant time he was serving at the Raymonds retail showroom in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. One Shri R. S. Negi was the Manager-cum-Cashier of the Karol Bagh Show-room of the employer under whom the appellant was working. He was served with a charge-sheet dated December 11, 1975 which reads as under :

"That you, Shri Rajinder Kindra, is hereby informed that you, while working as a salesman at Raymonds Retail Showroom, 2397/1, Hardhian Singh Road, New Delhi-5 have misappropriated cash and funds from the amounts of Raymonds Woollen Mills Ltd., to the extent of Rs. 32,196/88 or a part thereof during the period 10-6-75 to 17-10-75 by manipulating false accounts, submitted bogus cheques into the Mills Account or by taking cash from the chest of the Retail Depot along with Shri R. S. Negi, Manager-cum-Cashier of Raymonds Retail Show-room, 2397/1, Hardhian Singh Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi.

That you Shri Rajinder Kumar Kindra while acting as a salesman aided, abetted, connived and conspired with the Manager-cum-Cashier Shri R. S. Negi of the said show-room and issued various cheques in the amount of Rs. 15,027/75 from your cheque book with the ulterior motive and design to defraud the Company of the said amount by submitting these bogus cheques into the Mills Account and thereby causing unlawful gain to yourself and causing unlawful loss to the Company in collusion with Manager-cum-Cashier Shri R. S. Negi.

That you Shri Rajinder Kumar Kindra have wilfully / negligently permitted the user of the cheques in order to defraud the company of the amount of Rs. 15,027/75 in conspiracy with Shri R. S. Negi and you have been habitually negligent and wilfully disobedient in the performance of your duties as salesman."

2. One Shri V. K. Soni was appointed as Enquiry Officer to enquire into the aforementioned charges. In the course of enquiry, the appellant denied the charges levelled against him. He stated that the cash used to remain with Manager-cum-Cashier Shri R. S. Negi and it is for him to explain about some cheques drawn and the statement of account submitted by him. He denied himself having issued any cheque. He denied that he was negligent in performance of his duty. The employer examined Shri O. D. Sharma, Shri G. L. Kapur, Shri V. K. Malhotra and Shri Nandan Singh as witnesses for the management. The appellant gave evidence on his behalf and he was cross-examined on behalf of the employer. He also examined one Shri A. K. Godbole as his witness.

3. The Enquiry Officer Shri V. K. Soni submitted his report dated June 22, 1976. In the report, he inter alia held that the appellant had been guilty of gross negligence and misconduct in the discharge of his duties and he was actively responsible for committing the fraud on the Company with Shri R. S. Negi to the extent of Rs. 15027.75 and all the charges as contained in the charge-sheet against the appellant were held proved. The employer accepted the report and dismissed the appellant from service with effect from August 25, 1976.

4. The appellant raised an industrial dispute inter alia contending that the findings of the enquiry officer were perverse and there was no evidence in respect of either the charge of negligence or embezzlement of funds and that the dismissal from service was wholly unjustified. The employer and the appellant by a written agreement agreed to refer the existing industrial dispute arising out of the dismissal from service of the appellant to an arbitrator as provided by Sec. 10(A)(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act (Act for short). The first respondent Delhi Administration pursuant to aforementioned written agreement referred the following dispute to Shri G. C. Jain, Presiding Officer of the Labour Court, Delhi who was selected by the parties to be the arbitrator. It reads as under :-

"1) Whether the