IMPORTANT POINT
Dismissal in variance of enquiry report and without assigning any reason is invalid in law.

JUDGMENT

A. K. Patnaik, J. —

Delay condoned in filing rejoinder affidavit.

2. Leave granted.

3. This is an appeal against the order dated 03.04.2008 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissing the writ petition CWP No.5587 of 2008 of the appellant challenging his termination from service under the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (for short ‘the SGPC’).

4. The relevant facts very briefly are that the appellant was working as an Assistant Secretary of the SGPC at Amritsar when a news item was published in the local dailies in November 2007 with some photographs of the appellant with a woman in embarrassing positions. The SGPC constituted a Sub-Committee to hold an inquiry against the appellant and the appellant was asked to appear before the Sub-Committee on 22.11.2007 at 10.00 A.M. in the Meeting House, Sri Guru Nanak Niwas, Sri Amritsar. The appellant submitted his explanation that the photographs were that of himself and his wife and he did not know how someone has taken these from his bedroom. The Sub-Committee accepted the explanation of the appellant and submitted an inquiry report dated 01.12.2007 recommending that the appellant be reinstated in his post. On the basis of the inquiry report of the Sub-Committee, the Executive Committee of the SGPC in its meeting on 01.01.2008 resolved to reinstate the appellant in service. On 04.01.2008, however, the appellant submitted his resignation and the resignation was accepted by the President of the SGPC by order dated 04.01.2008. The appellant then made a representation complaining that his resignation was obtained by coercion and misrepresentation and by order dated 28.02.2008 issued by the Secretary of the SGPC, the order dated 04.01.2008 of the President of the SGPC accepting the resignation of the appellant was cancelled and the appellant was relieved from service on the ground that the resolution of the Executive Committee adopted on 01.01.2008 to reinstate the appellant in service was not confirmed by the Executive Committee in the meeting on 18.02.2008. Aggrieved by the order dated 28.02.2008 issued by the Secretary, SGPC, relieving the appellant from service, the appellant filed writ petition, CWP No.5587 of 2008, before the High Court. By the impugned order dated 03.04.2008, the High Court dismissed the writ petition after holding that the appellant had not only defamed the SGPC but also brought a bad name to the entire community and the order dated 28.02.2008 relieving the appellant from service had been rightly passed.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the woman, who was with the appellant in the photographs, was appellant’s wife and the inquiry report submitted by the Sub-Committee would show that the explanation of the appellant that the concerned woman was his wife had been accepted and on the basis of the inquiry report submitted by the Sub-Committee the appellant had been fully exonerated and reinstated in service by the Executive Committee of the SGPC by the resolution dated 01.01.2008. He further submitted that the order dated 04.01.2008 of the President of the SGPC accepting the resignation of the appellant had also been cancelled pursuant to the representation of the appellant that the resignation had been obtained from the appellant by coercion and misrepresentation. He argued that the Executive Committee of the SGPC had actually dismissed the appellant from service for alleged misconduct by resolution dated 18.02.2008 without any finding in any inquiry that the appellant was guilty of such misconduct.

6. Learned counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, submitted relying on the reply filed by the respondent that the appellant had in fact tendered his resignation from his post on 04.01.2008. He referred to the resignation dated 04.01.2008 of the appellant annexed to the reply as Annexure R-2 to show that he had resigned from the post with a view to ensure that the image of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak was not s