Disciplinary authorities may conduct ex-parte proceedings if an employee is absconding, and prior misconduct can inform the determination of penalties, highlighting limited judicial review in disciplinary matters.

JUDGMENT :

S.K. Panigrahi, J.

1. In filing this Writ Petition, the Petitioner has challenged the charge memo dated 25.01.2017, Order of dismissal dated 16.2.2019 passed by the Superintendent of Police, Puri and rejection order dated 30.09.2020 passed by DIG of Police, CR.

2. Apart from the above prayer, the Petitioner has also sought for a direction from this Court to the Opposite Parties for reinstating him in service with all financial and consequential service benefits.

I. FACTUAL MATRIX OF THE CASE

3. The brief fact of the case in brevity remains:-

(i) On 05.03.1984, the Petitioner was appointed as a Constable in the Orissa Police. While serving in this capacity, allegations were made that on 07.11.2016, the Petitioner failed to perform duties as instructed by the Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Gadishagoda Police Station, thus violating Rule 3 of the Odisha Government Servant’s Conduct Rules/ 1959. In response, a departmental proceeding was initiated by the Superintendent of Police, Puri, through a Charge Memo dated 25.01.2017.

(ii) Pursuant to the issuance of the Charge Memo, the Petitioner submitted a response on 29.05.2017, denying the allegations. It is alleged, however, that following this response, the Petitioner was neither informed of the appointment of an Inquiry Officer nor summoned for an inquiry related to the charges. Despite this, the Superintendent of Police, Puri, issued an order of dismissal against the Petitioner on 16.02.2019.

(iii) Aggrieved by the dismissal order, the Petitioner filed an appeal before the Inspector General (I.G.) of Police, Central Range, which was not addressed by the Deputy Inspector General (D.I.G.) per Appeal Memo dated 08.03.2019. Due to the prolonged inaction on this appeal, the Petitioner filed a Writ Petition (W.P.(C) No. 9284/2020), resulting in an order dated 01.06.2020 directing the appellate authority to consider the appeal and make a lawful decision after providing the Petitioner with an opportunity to be heard.

(iv) In compliance with this directive, the appellate authority issued a notice on 24.08.2020 to the Petitioner to appear on 31.08.2020. Although the Petitioner attended as instructed, the appellate authority did not conduct an oral hearing and instead, through an order dated 31.08.2020, directed the Petitioner to submit a written statement within seven days. The Petitioner complied the same by submitting the required statement. However, the appellate authority dismissed the appeal without due consideration of the Petitioner’s submissions/ prompting the filing of the present Writ Petition.

II. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER:

4. Learned counsel for the Petitioner earnestly made the following submissions in support of his contentions.

(i) The authority has passed the order of dismissal dated 16.02.2019 without following the procedures prescribed in the OCS (CC&A) Rules, 1962. On the other hand, the authority has passed the said order as per the provision under Article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution and in accordance with Rule 828 read with Appendix 49(12)(c) of the Odisha Police Manual. He further contends that the Petitioner had never been provided with any opportunity to defend himself during the course of departmental enquiry.

(ii) He also contends that the Petitioner was not been supplied with the enquiry report as mandated under rule 15(10)(i)(a) of the OCS (CCA) Rules, 1962. He has not been issued any 2nd show cause notice on the proposed penalty as required under Rule 15(10)(i)(b) of the said Rule, 1962. The disciplinary a