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Supreme Court Of India
Bongaigaon Refinery & P.C.Ltd. - Appellant
Versus
Girish Chandra Sarmah - Respondent
Decided On : 08/08/2007
Guwahati High Court - Disciplinary Proceedings - Charges framed against the respondent were not sustainable - Charges found to be wrongly proved by the inquiring authority - Division Bench correctly assessed the situation - Respondent made a scapegoat - Decision of all three committees was unanimous - Division Bench's finding not wrong - Appeal dismissed
Fact of the Case:
The respondent, a Deputy General Manager, was alleged to have committed serious misconduct in a land purchase deal. A regular inquiry found him guilty and he was reverted to a lower grade. The respondent filed a writ petition, which was dismissed by the Single Judge but allowed by the Division Bench.
Finding of the Court:
The Division Bench found that the charges against the respondent were not sustainable and were wrongly proved by the inquiring authority. It concluded that the respondent was made a scapegoat and that the decision of all three committees involved in the deal was unanimous. The Division Bench's finding was upheld, and the appeal was dismissed.
Issues: Validity of charges against the respondent, correctness of the inquiring authority's findings, whether the respondent was unfairly targeted as a scapegoat
Ratio Decidendi: The decision of all three committees involved in the deal was unanimous, and the respondent was not solely responsible for the alleged misconduct. The Division Bench correctly assessed the situation and found the respondent to be unfairly targeted.
Final Decision: The appeal was dismissed with no order as to costs.
JUDGMENT:
A.K. MATHUR, J.
1. This appeal is directed against the order passed by the Division Bench of the Guwahati High Court in Writ Appeal No.248 of 2005 whereby the Division Bench has set aside the order of learned Single Judge dismissing the writ petition and allowed the writ petition of the respondent and set aside the order of reversion passed against the respondent reverting him from his grade of Deputy General Manager to Grade F, Chief Manager in a lower pay scale of Rs.19000-24570/- for a period of five years or till he is found fit by the competent authority to restore him in the higher grade and post from the post of Deputy General Manager (POL- Marketing).
2. Aggrieved against the order of reversion passed in a disciplinary proceeding on 20.9.2002, the respondent filed a writ petition in the Guwahati High Court and submitted that the domestic inquiry which had been conducted against him and which has found him guilty was perverse and totally illegal.
3. The respondent while working as Deputy General Manager (POL-Marketing) in Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, Dhaligaon during the year 1998-99 was alleged to have committed serious misconduct for which he was charge-sheeted. The following charges were framed against him which read as under:
“Article of Charge No.1: Sri G.C.Sarma dishonestly selected and recommended purchase of land at Jorabat on the ground of ecomonic viability. As a Member in the price negotiating committee, he failed to assess the reasonable price of the land inasmuch as he himself intimated the price of 7 acres of land at Rs.30 lakhs in his preliminary report.
Article of Charge No.2: Sri G.C.Sarma appointed the Valuer Sri I. Sharma for land valuation violating the due process of tendering and that the fictitious price fixed by the Valuer at Rs.25/- per sq.ft. was accepted.
Article of Charge No.3: Sri I.Sharma who floated the firm M/s. ESS Pvt. Ltd., was engaged without process of tendering for determination of soil and rock strata as recommended by Sri G.C.Sarma. The report submitted by Sri I.Sharma was fictitious and misconceived as the land being hilly, rocky and undeveloped was recommended to be suitable for the outlet. Sri G.C.Sarma in connivance with Sri I.Sharma thereby dishonestly recommended the land as suitable.”
On the basis of these charges a regular inquiry was initiated against the respondent and Shri N.C.Barua, retired District & Sessions Judge, Bongaigaon was appointed as Inquiring Authority. The Inquiry Officer submitted his report on 6.6.2002 finding all the three charges to have been proved against the respondent. Thereafter, the disciplinary authority gave a notice and after hearing the respondent passed the aforesaid impugned order. Aggrieved against this order the respondent filed a writ petition before the Guwahati High Court. Learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition. Aggrieved against that order the respondent preferred a writ appeal before the Division Bench. The Division Bench allowed the writ appeal of the respondent, set aside the order of learned Single Judge and quashed the order of the disciplinary authority imposing the aforesaid punishment. Hence the present appeal.
4. We have heard learned Mr.Amarendra Sharan, learned Additional Solicitor General for the appellants and Mr.Jaideep Gupta, learned senior counsel for the respondent and perused the records.
5. Learned Additional Solicitor General, Mr.Sharan strenuously submitted that the Division Bench sat over the matter as an appellate authority and reversed the finding of the learned Single Judge as well as the inquiry officer on re-appreciation of evidence. The Division Bench cannot sit as a court of appeal in the matter of domestic enquiries and re-appreciate the evidence. Learned Additional Solicitor General invited our attention to the following decisions of this Court.
1. (2006) 6 SCC 794 Union of India & Anr. v. K.G.Soni
2. (1995) 6 SCC 749 B.C.Chaturvedi v. Union of India & Ors.
3. (1997) 3
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