Termination of service without a proper inquiry violates Article 311(2) of the Constitution, emphasizing the necessity of due process in employment matters.

JUDGMENT :

(Per : Hon'ble Jayant Banerji, J.)

1. This Special Appeal was heard and judgment was reserved on 29.7.2024. However, thereafter the counsel for the respondent no.4, Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya made a mention seeking permission to submit his short written submission which permission was granted and he submitted the same on 2.8.2024.

2. The appellant states that he passed Purva Madhyama in the year 1986, Uttar Madhyama in 1988 and also Shastri Degree, all from the respondent no.4-Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi[Vishwavidylaya]. He also obtained his B.Ed. Degree from Purvanchal University, Jaunpur. In the year 2004, the State Government imparted six months Special Teacher Training known as Special B.T.C.-2004 to candidates possessing teaching qualifications which training was also undergone by the petitioner-appellant. The petitioner-appellant appeared in the final exam thereafter and acquired a Special B.T.C. training certificate. The appellant was issued an appointment letter dated 26.12.2005 granting him appointment as Assistant Teacher in a Junior Basic School in District Jyotibha Phule Nagar, which appointment letter was issued by the Basic Education Officer, Amroha. The appointment was temporary for a period of one year’s probation. It is stated that subsequently, the petitioner-appellant was granted promotion as Headmaster of a Junior Basic School and was thereafter so working. By a letter dated 08.5.2014, the District Basic Education Officer directed the Block Education Officer of Development Block Joya, District Amroha to send the original service book of the petitioner-appellant alongwith photocopies of the educational qualification certificates. His salary was withheld from July 2014. Thereafter, a notice was issued to the appellant requiring him to appear in the office of the District Basic Education Officer on 16.7.2015 alongwith his appointment letter as well as the educational qualification certificates.

3. By an order dated 4.12.2015, the District Basic Education Officer cancelled the appointment of the appellant granted on 26.12.2005 and dismissed him from service. It is stated that in response to the notice sent to the appellant, he submitted his reply, but the order impugned placed reliance upon material obtained subsequent to the issuance of the notice, and the order impugned relied upon a verification report dated 24.11.2015, which was never supplied to the appellant. It is stated that the appellant holds a civil post under the State Government, and his appointment cannot be cancelled except after an inquiry in which he is required to be informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

4. The contention is that the positive averment of the petitioner regarding his having obtained valid qualifying degrees from the Vishwavidyalaya was required to be looked into. Further, in the writ petition, it was stated that the entire exercise conducted by the Basic Education Officer is a wholly unwarranted exercise. The petitioner-appellant was awarded the certificates by the Vishwavidyalaya and the verification is to be made from the Vishwavidyalaya and not from the college where the petitioner-appellant had studied. It was stated that the order impugned in the writ petition does not contain any verification from the Vishwavidyalaya. It was also stated that after obtaining Shastri Degree as well as B.Ed. Degree, on that basis the petitioner-appellant was admitted in the Special BTC Training 2004, and he was granted appointment upon successful completion thereof, but these averments were not specifically denied in the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the Basic Education Officer.

5. Learned counsel for the appellant has relied upon a judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Sandeep Kumar vs. G.B. Pant Institute of Engineering & Technology Ghurdauri & Ors., Neutral Citation No.-2024 INSC 309 and a Division Bench judgment