Confessions made in police custody can be admissible in departmental inquiries if proven voluntary, and procedural fairness must be observed, though the standard of proof is lower than in criminal trials.

JUDGMENT :

J.J. Munir, J.

1. This writ petition is directed against the order of the Assistant General Manager, Bank of Baroda, Kanpur Region, Kanpur dated 15.01.2002, dismissing the petitioner from service, after holding disciplinary proceedings. Also, under challenge is the order of the General Manager, Bank of Baroda, Zonal Office U.P. and Uttarakhand, Zone Lucknow dated 27.06.2008, dismissing the petitioner's appeal against the order of the Assistant General Manager, last mentioned, and affirming the order dated 15.01.2002.

2. The original petitioner in this petition, the late Anil Kumar Srivastava, was a Clerk in the service of the Bank of Baroda (for short, 'Bank'), posted at the Latouche Road Branch, Kanpur. He was dismissed from service by the Bank after holding a departmental inquiry. He had challenged his dismissal by means of the present writ petition and died during pendency. His heirs and L.R.s, to wit, his sons, Sajal Srivastava and Suyash Srivastava, applied for substitution on his behalf, which was granted by this Court on 15.02.2022. They have since been substituted as petitioner Nos.1/1 and 1/2. They will be collectively referred to as 'the petitioner' hereinafter. For all intents and purposes, whatever is said in this judgment about the petitioner, would bear reference to the deceased petitioner, Anil Kumar Srivastava, whose estate his heirs and L.R.'s represent. Apart from the possible benefit to the deceased petitioner's estate, that might ensue if the petition succeeds, it would also be the interest of the heirs and L.R.s in pursuing this petition that the stigma affecting the deceased's reputation is removed.

3. The petitioner was appointed in the service of the Bank on 06.09.1983 in the ministerial cadre. He had served the Bank in their various branches. He was initially posted to a Branch of the Bank at Lucknow as a Clerk. He was serving the Bank at their Latouche Road Branch, Kanpur in the year 1996, when a fraud was committed at the Hapur Branch of the Bank. A First Information Report was lodged by the Manager of the Branch at Hapur, reporting the fraud. The fraud was unearthed by a Clerk at the Hapur Branch, who got suspicious about remittance of money through a bank draft. He confirmed about the issue of the draft from the Latouche Road Branch of the Bank at Kanpur, which led to the fraud being discovered. One Smt. Parveen, who had to encash a cheque for funds, that had been remitted through the suspect instrument, was arrested. The FIR, last mentioned, was lodged on 20.12.1996, giving rise to Case Crime No.65 of 1996, under Sections 420 , 467, 468 and 471 IPC , Police Station Hapur, District Ghaziabad (now District Hapur). The FIR was lodged against Smt. Parveen wife of Khalil Ahmad, a resident of Shop No.20, Shakun Market, Railway Road, Hapur. During course of investigation by the Police, it was detected and the Latouche Road Branch of the Bank at Kanpur confirmed that some blank demand drafts and mail transfer forms were found missing from an almirah at the Kanpur Branch of the Bank aforesaid. It was these forms, that were misutilized at the Hapur Branch. Accordingly, on 24.12.1996, an FIR, about the draft and mail transfer forms being stolen, was lodged against unknown