2004 Supreme(Kar) 586

Karnataka High Court
B.Viswanatha Rao - Appellant
Versus
Management of Canara Bank, Head Office, Bangalore - Respondent
Decided On : 10-12-04
W.P. : 7744 of 1999

Headnote:Domestic enquiry

       CANARA BANK SERVICE CODE Chapter XI, Regulation 4 - Chapter XI, Regulation 4 (f) -Domestic enquiry -Validity -Questions posed by enquiry officer -Not in the nature of clarification -Sustainability of enquiry proceedings.

       Cases Referred:1981(1) SLR 454 (Kar); 1987 (3) Kar. L.J. 232; 1998 (2) Kar. L.J. 643: ILR 1998 Kar. 897; 1999 (6) KLD 591; 1989-II-LLJ-277 (SC); AIR 1975 SC 2125: 1975-I-LLJ -391 (SC); 1970-I-LLJ -26 (SC); ILR 1987 Kar. 366: (1986) 68 FJR 254 (Kar); AIR 1996 SC 1556: 1996 AIR SCW 1656; AIR 1990 SC 2034: (1991) 1 SCC 13.

       Domestic enquiry

       CANARA BANK SERVICE CODE - Chapter XI, Regulation 4 (f) -Domestic enquiry -Validity -Questions posed by enquiry officer -Not in the nature of clarification -Sustainability of enquiry proceedings.

       Dismissal

       LABOUR AND SERVICES - Dismissal -Pre-requirement -Holding a fair and regular enquiry is sine qua non before passing an order of dismissal on ground of misconduct.

       [N. Kumar, J]: Domestic enquiry in Industrial Law has acquired great significance and industrial adjudication attaches considerable importance to such enquiry. Enquiry is not an empty formality but it is essential condition to the legality of the disciplinary order. Holding of a fair and regular enquiry is sine quo non before an order of dismissal is passed on the ground of misconduct. The Disciplinary Enquiry is a quasi-judicial enquiry which is held according to the principles of natural justice and the Enquiry Officer has a duty to act judicially because the charges of misconduct, if proved will result not only in deprivation of livelihood of the workman but will also attach stigma to his character. The basic postulate of a domestic enquiry is that it must be fair in all respects and should not be conducted with "an evil eye and uneven hand".

       Domestic enquiry

       LABOUR AND SERVICES -Domestic enquiry -Appointment of Presenting Officer -If compulsory.

       [N. Kumar, J]: Normally much industrial establishments have highly trained officers who are engaged in representing the management in domestic enquiries. However, it is not incumbent on the management that it must appoint a Presenting Officer before domestic enquiry. It may leave it to the Enquiry Officer himself to elicit relevant information from the witnesses presented before him by the management and the workmen. Such procedure is permissible as long as the Enquiry Officer does not play the role of Presenting Officer. There is no legal compulsion that Presenting Officer should be appointed. The mere fact that the Presenting Officer was not appointed by the management is no ground to invalidate the enquiry.

       Domestic enquiry

       LABOUR AND SERVICES -Domestic enquiry -Conduct of Intervention of outsiders -It is best left to management.

       [N. Kumar, J]: The traditional judicial approach on the representation of the parties before Domestic Tribunals is that a domestic enquiry is a managerial function and as such it is best left to the management without the intervention of outsiders and persons belonging to legal profession. This approach is based on the view that enquiry before Industrial Tribunals are of simple in nature where technical rules as to evidence and procedure do not prevail and persons appointed to hold such enquiry are generally not lawyers. In other words, Enquiry Officers holding enquiry without being unduly influenced by strict rules of evidence and procedural juggernaut and hear the delinquent employee in person and in such an informal enquiry the delinquent Officer could at best the able to defend himself.

       Domestic enquiry

       LABOUR AND SERVICES -Domestic enquiry -Object of permitting enquiry officer to put questions -Scope and limit.

       [N. Kumar, J]: The purpose and object of permitting the Enquiry Officer to put such questions by way of clarification is to ascertain the real incident. Merely because such questions are put by the Enquiry Officer in a case where no Presenting Officer is appointed by the Management it does not amount to examination in chief. However, under the guise of putting clarificatory questions if the Enquiry Officer puts leading questions to the witness of the Management and records evidence when no Presenting Officer is appointed and after cross-examination of those witnesses again puts questions by way of re-examination it cannot be said that those questions are put by way of clarification. Similarly in the absence of a Presenting Officer when the defence witnesses are examined if the Enquiry Officer cross-examine the defence witnesses on all the evidence which they have stated and that too by putting leading questions it is a case of the Enquiry Officer acting as Prosecutor and under those circumstances the entire enquiry gets vitiated. However, it is not possible to lay down as a rule of law what questions the Enquiry Officer is permitted to put in a domestic enquiry or how many questions he can put. The question whether the Enquiry Officer has put questions by way of clarifications or virtually he has done the examination-in-chief and cross-examination of the defence witnesses is dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. The same has to be gathered by looking into the evidence, the nature of questions put, number of questions put, and the answers obtained and how the said answers have been made use of in preparing the report. Therefore the material on record in any particular case demonstrates that the Enquiry Officer acted as a Prosecutor, that too, in the absence of a Presenting Officer such enquiry gets vitiated. The real test is whether the departmental proceedings reflect bias on the part of the Enquiry Officer. If so the enquiry can be said to be vitiated.

       Domestic enquiry

       LABOUR AND SERVICES -Domestic enquiry -Object -Stated.

       [N. Kumar, J]: In a domestic enquiry an Enquiry Officer is appointed to enquiry Into the truth or otherwise of the charges levelled against the delinquent employee. The whole purpose and object of such domestic enquiry is to get at the truth of the matter.

       Domestic enquiry

       LABOUR AND SERVICES -Domestic enquiry -Role of enquiry officer.

       [N. Kumar, J]: No doubt it is the management which has to establish the charges levelled against the delinquent employee by examining witnesses to substantiate the charges. Thereafter it is open to the delinquent employee to adduce evidence in support of his defence. When a Presenting Officer is not appointed by the Management merely because few questions are put by the Enquiry Officer to such witnesses of the management it does not amount to Examination-in-Chief by the Enquiry Officer. The Enquiry Officer can put questions to the witnesses who appeared before him for clarification whenever necessary. If when such questions are put and the witnesses give answers which are against the interest of the opposite party then if the Enquiry Officer allows the witnesses to be cross-examined on those points the rules of fair-play is observed. The right of an Enquiry Officer to put questions to witnesses by way of clarification is well-recognised.

       Cases Referred:1981(1) SLR 454 (Kar); 1987 (3) Kar. L.J. 232; 1998 (2) Kar. L.J. 643: ILR 1998 Kar. 897; 1999 (6) KLD 591; 1989-II-LLJ-277 (SC); AIR 1975 SC 2125: 1975-I-LLJ -391 (SC); 1970-I-LLJ -26 (SC); ILR 1987 Kar. 366: (1986) 68 FJR 254 (Kar); AIR 1996 SC 1556: 1996 AIR SCW 1656; AIR 1990 SC 2034: (1991) 1 SCC 13.