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1961 Supreme(P&H) 65
PUNJAB & HARYANA HIGH COURT
K.L.Gosain, J.
Rai Bahadur Diwan Badri Dass
Versus
Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, Patiala
Civil Writ No. 1851 of 1960,
Decided On : MARCH 20, 1961
An employer has the right to take disciplinary action against an employee for misconduct that occurs outside the premises of the concern or when the employee is off duty, if the act is subversive of discipline or involves moral turpitude.
Headnote:
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE - Dismissal of Employee - Enquiry - Scope and Jurisdiction - Standing Orders - Interpretation - Misconduct - Ambit of Disciplinary Jurisdiction - Judicial Review - Grounds.
Fact of the Case:
The Board of Trustees of "The Tribune Trust, Ambala" dismissed Mr. W.M. Agnani, a Sub-Editor, for misconduct. The Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, Patiala, held the dismissal to be unjustified and contrary to law and ordered his reinstatement. The Board of Trustees challenged the award.
Finding of the Court:
The Court held that the Tribunal committed errors of law in finding that the enquiry into charges 1 to 8 was unauthorized and that the incident covered by charge 9 did not fall within the ambit of the disciplinary jurisdiction of the employers.
Issues: 1. Whether the Tribunal erred in finding that the enquiry into charges 1 to 8 was unauthorized? 2. Whether the Tribunal erred in finding that the incident covered by charge 9 did not fall within the ambit of the disciplinary jurisdiction of the employers?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The resolution appointing the committee of enquiry authorized an enquiry into all the charges relating to Mr. Agnani's conduct, including those in respect of his conduct on previous occasions. 2. The incident covered by charge 9, which involved Mr. Agnani quarrelling with the lessee of the Provision Stores in the Tribune Staff Colony and creating a rowdy scene, was within the ambit of the disciplinary jurisdiction of the employers as it had a material bearing on the smooth and efficient working of the concern.
Final Decision: The Court quashed the award of the Tribunal and upheld the dismissal of Mr. Agnani.
K.L.Gosain, J.
1. This petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India brought by the Board of Trustees of "The Tribune Trust, Ambala", hereinafter called the Trustees, is directed against the award of the Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, Patiala, dated the 25th October, 1960, by which an order passed by the Board of Trustees in their meeting dated the 12th March, 1960, dismissing Mr. W.M. Agnani, Sub-Editor of the Tribune has been held to be unjustified and contrary to law and Mr. Agnani has been held "entitled to be reinstated with continuity of service and full back wages."
2. It is alleged by the petitioners that Mr. Agnani was employed in 1948 as a Sub-Editor in the establishment of the Tribune. Sometimes in September, 1957 it came to the notice of the Trustees that he was engaged in compiling a Trade Directory called "The Punjab Trade Guide and Whos Who" and after getting an explanation from him the Trustees in their meeting held on the 27th and 28th January, 1958, passed a resolution giving him an option either to proceed on leave for nine months without pay to enable him to finish his work on the directory or sever his connections with the publication of the same as his association and work for the Directory interfered with his duties as a Sub-Editor. The operative part of the resolution is reproduced in paragraph 2 of the petition and is as under:
" .......... They, therefore, resolved that Mr. Agnani be told either to take leave without pay for nine months or until he has finished the work on the Directory, whichever is earlier, or he should give up his work on the Directory as well as in the Northern India Chamber of Commerce and continue as Sub-Editor on the Tribune."
On the 25th February, 1958, Mr. Agnani sent a letter to Mr. J. Natarajan, the Editor of the Tribune, intimating that he had severed his connections with "The Punjab Trade Guide and Whos Who" in exercise of his option given by the resolution of the Board of Trustees and that thenceforth his services would be solely and exclusively available to the Tribune. In spite of the undertaking given by him he went on attending to the compilation and publication of the said Directory throughout the year 1958, and went to Delhi many times for that purpose without the knowledge of the Trustees by taking leave on false pretexts.
This became known to the Trustees sometime in June 1959, and an explanation of his was then called, and in this explanation he denied having participated in the compilation or publication of the said Directory in breach of his undertaking given earlier in February, 1958. On the 16th November, 1959, Mr. Agnani, who was not a resident of the Tribune Colony, went to the provision store in the same and created a row with Om Prakash, the lessee of the said store, using filthy language causing annoyance to the women folk and other residents of the colony.
A report was lodged by the said Om Prakash to the Colony Committee and later the residents of the colony also made a complaint about it to the Editor of the Tribune and pressed for an appropriate action being taken against Mr. Agnani.
The residents of the Tribune Colony felt great indignation over the incident and took strong exception to the manner in which Mr. Agnani had conducted himself unmindful of the surroundings where the family members of the Tribune employees were residing. The Trustees in their meeting held on the 2nd January, 1960, made a preliminary enquiry with a view to satisfy themselves as to the - genuineness of the aforesaid complaints by examining four residents of the colony (two ladies and two gents) and after satisfying themselves that there was a cause for enquiry, they passed a resolution appointing a committee for enquiry for the said purpose. The exact language of this resolution is as below:
"The trustees considered the complaint of some residents of the Tribune Colony regarding the conduct of Mr. W.M. Agnani, Sub-Editor, on November 16, 1959, and
