IMPORTANT POINT
IMPORTANT POINT
The court upheld the removal of the appellant from service for re-issuing used tickets, affirming that the inquiry was fair and the penalty was proportionate to the misconduct.

JUDGMENT: (per Hon’ble Sri Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty)

This Writ Appeal is filed aggrieved by the order dated 26.02.2024 passed by the learned single Judge of this Court in W.P.No.43437 of 2016.

2. Heard Sri V.Narasimha Goud, learned counsel for appellant, Sri Gaddam Srinivas, learned standing counsel for TSRTC appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3 and the learned Government Pleader for Labour appearing for respondent no.4.

3. The facts of the case in nutshell are that appellant was engaged as Conductor on daily wages on 24.09.1991 and subsequently, his services were regularized w.e.f. 01.06.1992. While so, when the appellant was performing duty on 24.01.2010 on route from Kodad to Miryalaguda, a check was conducted at Allagadda and the checking officials found that he has re-issued the used tickets and consequently, charge memo framing three charges was issued to the appellant; that appellant submitted explanation to the charge memo; that not satisfied with the said explanation, an Inquiry Officer was appointed and regular inquiry was conducted and the appellant participated in the said inquiry and the Inquiry Officer submitted his report holding that the charges are proved; that a show-cause notice was issued seeking objections from the appellant as to why he should not be removed from service. Appellant submitted his objections, however, respondent-Corporation removed the appellant from services vide order dated 25.09.2010. Aggrieved by the same, appellant preferred appeal before the appellate authority and the same was also dismissed on 24.01.2011. The Revision and Review preferred by the appellant were also dismissed vide orders dated 22.06.2011 and 29.11.2011 respectively.

4. Aggrieved by the same, appellant filed an application under Section 2-A(2) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 before the Labour Court-III, Hyderabad vide I.D.No.77 of 2012 and said I.D., was dismissed by the Labour Court on 16.02.2016. Aggrieved by the same, appellant approached this Court by filing W.P.No.43437 of 2016 and the learned single Judge of this Court was pleased to dismiss the said writ petition vide order dated 26.02.2024. Assailing the same, appellant filed the present Writ Appeal.

5. Learned counsel for appellant contended that the appellant joined service of the respondent-Corporation on 24.09.1991 and since then he has been rendering services with the respondent-corporation. It is further contended that the Labour Court as well as learned single Judge did not appreciate the facts of the case in proper perspective and have come to erroneous conclusions and further, there was no attestation of witnesses on the purported statement of the question, which is a mandatory and hence, the allegations levelled against the appellant are not proved with any independent, valid evidence. He further contended that check was conducted on 24.01.2010 and charge memo was served after 20 days from the date of check i.e., 15.02.2010, which is contrary to the checking rules as prescribed in Chapter No.79 of the operational manual and initiation of disciplinary proceedings basing on the said charge memo is improper, illegal and therefore, the order of removal is also not sustainable and same is liable to be set aside.

6. Per contra, learned standing counsel for respondent-corporation contended that on earlier occasion, the annual increments of the appellant were deferred five times and he was also removed from service on 27.11.1997 for cash and ticket irregularities and was reinstated into service pursuant to the award passed by the Tribunal in I.D.No.34 of 2001; that the appellant was once again suspended on 13.06.2007 for cash and ticket irregularities and subsequently, the suspension was revoked and the appellant was imposed punishment of deferment of annual increments for a period of two years without cumulative effect. The appellant again involved in ticket irregularities while conducting the Bus service on 24.01.2010 from the route from Kodad to Miryala