Departmental proceedings must adhere to principles of natural justice, and acquittal in criminal cases does not preclude disciplinary action but requires proper evidence examination.

JUDGMENT :

Deepak Roshan, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. The instant writ application has been preferred by the petitioner praying therein for quashing and setting aside the notification as contained in memo No.108 dated 24.01.2024 (Annexure-11); whereby a punishment has been imposed upon the petitioner for withholding of three increments without cumulative effect, when the fact remains that for the very same set of allegations as alleged in the departmental proceeding, the petitioner has been honourably acquitted in the criminal case.

The petitioner has further prayed for a direction upon the respondents to include and consider the name of the petitioner, the senior most in the cadre, for the purpose of promotion into the rank of Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories.

It has further been prayed for quashing of the Notification dated 05.01.2024 (Annexure-13); whereby the respondent No.4, a junior officer than the petitioner, has been made In-charge on the post of Chief Inspector of Factories, Jharkhand.

3. The brief facts of the case are that the petitioner was appointed at the post of Inspector of Factories Class-II Gazetted under Jharkhand Labour Service Technical Cadre in the year 2007 and he was initially appointed on probation and the period of probation was 2 years; however, the service of petitioner was confirmed only in the year 2021 vide notification dated 27.01.2021 after a delay of about 14 years.

On 22.03.2013, while the petitioner was posted at Hazaribagh, he was accused of demanding bribe/illegal gratification for which a trap was setup for the petitioner and the petitioner was caught red handed. Subsequently, a vigilance case was lodged against him being Ranchi Vigilance P.S. No.07/2013 for demanding bribe/illegal gratification and subsequently the petitioner was arrested as well.

Pursuant to lodging of the criminal case against the petitioner, a decision was taken by the respondent authorities to initiate departmental proceeding against him and the same was initiated vide resolution dated 29/31.01.2014 and was communicated to the petitioner. Along with the Resolution dated 31.01.2014, the petitioner was also served with a memo of charge in the form of Prapatr-K containing the statement of charges. The stand of the petitioner is that the same was not approved by the competent authority; rather was issued at the level of the Deputy Secretary.

The petitioner upon receiving show cause, submitted his reply vide letter dated 20.08.2014, before the concerned authority and in the said letter the petitioner had denied all the charges levelled against him. Thereafter, the Under Secretary, Labour Employment Training and Skill Development i.e. respondent No.3 cum presenting officer forwarded the details of the case of the petitioner along with his opinion vide his letter dated 06.01.2015, to the enquiry officer. The respondent No.3 in his opinion has stated that the explanation given by the petitioner is not acceptable and hence it was rejected. Thereafter, the respondents concluded the departmental proceeding on 28.05.2015 and in the enquiry report it was found out that the allegation levelled against the petitioner is true.

4. The case of the petitioner is that the Enquiry Officer held that the charges as proved but without examining any witness in the departmental proceeding. It has been stated in the enquiry report that the petitioner will get adequate chance to examine the evidence, witness produced by the prosecution at the time of trial of Ranchi Vigilance P.S. No. 07/2013.

The further case of the petitioner is that during pendency of the trial of the petitioner in respect to Ranchi Vigilance P.S. No. 07/2013 before the Vigilance Court, the departmental proceeding against the petitioner was kept in abeyance. Thereafter, about eight years, the learned Court of Special Judge, Vigilance (ACB) Hazaribagh, vide order dated 15.06.2023 acquitted the petitioner in connection with Ranchi Vigilance P.S. Case No. 07/2013.

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