Termination without adequate evidence and disregard for fair procedures violates principles of natural justice.

JUDGMENT

The prayers in the writ petition are as follows.

“i) Call for records leading to Exts. P20 and P21 and

ii) to issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order setting aside Ext.P7 charge memo, P16 enquiry report, P17 termination notice, P20 order of dismissal issued by the 3^rd respondent and Ext.P21 Minutes of the 4^th respondent.

iii) Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondents to reinstate the petitioner in service forthwith with back wages from the date on which the petitioner was dismissed from service till the date of reinstatement.

iv) Petitioner also pray that this Hon’ble court may be pleased to dispense with the translation of the documents produced in the vernacular language.

v) Award costs of the proceedings to the petitioner

vi) Any other relief this Hon’ble Court deems fit.”

2. According to the petitioner, he entered the service of the 2^nd respondent as a Peon-cum-Driver in the year 2005, under the dying in harness scheme. He was transferred and posted to the Division Engineer’s Office, Thiruvananthapuram, as per Ext. P1 order dated 29.5.2020. By Exhibit P2, he was promoted to the post of Assistant Chargeman. The Petitioner is the Secretary of the Kerala Agro Industries Corporation Staff Union. On 06.08.2022, the Staff Union submitted Exhibit P15 complaint before the Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture. The first respondent thereafter wrote to the third respondent directing to impose major punishment on the petitioner and to suspend him from service, and to inform the Government about the action taken. The letter has been produced as Exhibit P4. On the very next day, by Exhibit P3 proceedings, the third respondent suspended the petitioner from service. Exhibit P3 clearly says that the Government had directed to initiate rigorous disciplinary action against the petitioner and to suspend him from service. The letter Exhibit P4 refers to a letter written by the Chairman on 02.08.2022 to the Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture.

3. The petitioner was issued with Exhibit P5 show cause notice on 05.01.2023. The show-cause notice raises four charges. The first charge is that though manual bills had been raised, corresponding entries had not been made in the tally accounts, and an amount of ₹ 42,503/- was not accounted for in the tally software. It is also stated that the cash had not been handed over to the main cashier of the bazar. The second charge is that the sale of plants is not properly accounted for, and inventory details are also not up to date. The third charge says that 4 Senior Officers had conducted an inspection, and it was found that the counterfoil/ carbon copy of 3 bill books with 400 bills each were not returned to the office. It is alleged that the above action amounts to misappropriation and embezzlement of cash, which has been quantified as ₹4,10,400/-. The 4^th charge is that the petitioner obtained ₹4,25,000/- by way of threatening 4 daily wage staff members of KAICO, who had been expelled from the service of the corporation because of financial irregularities.

4. Ext.P6 is the reply submitted by the petitioner to the show cause notice. This was followed by Exhibit P7 memo of charges and statement of allegations. The memo of charges contains three charges. Allegations 1 and 3 in the show cause notice are seen to have been clubbed together as one charge. The documents relied upon for framing charges were an inspection report dated 14.10.2022, a final inspection report dated 19.10.2022 and the report of the Complaint Redressal Committee of KAICO dated 17.07.202