JUDGMENT :

Dama Seshadri Naidu, J.

1. Introduction:

An employee, a professor in a private college, along with another colleague, faces allegations of misconduct. The Chairman of the Trust that runs the college initiates disciplinary proceedings against that employee and the other; appoints an inquiry officer and a presenting officer, both advocates by profession; and concludes the disciplinary proceedings. It results in the dismissal of both the employee and his colleague. The employee challenges his removal before a statutory Tribunal. And the Tribunal affirms it. Further aggrieved, the employee files a writ petition before this Court-now admitted and pending before a Division Bench.

2. Pending the appeal before the Tribunal, the employee files a private complaint before a Special Court. He contends that the disciplinary proceedings are false, malicious, and vexatious, attracting Section 3 (1) (p) of the Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1980 ("Atrocities Act"). On the Special Court's reference, the police investigate and file a final report: the case not established. So, the employee files a private complaint. The Special Court, then, takes cognisance