Actions Not Malicious: Allahabad HC Grants Relief To Addl Private Secretary Sacked For Unintentionally Forwarding WhatsApp Message Against CM

The Allahabad High Court had quashed the termination order of Additional Private Secretary in the State Secretariat of Uttar Pradesh, who was sacked for allegedly forwarding a WhatsApp message which is stated to have contained objectionable remarks concerning the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The order was quashed on grounds of lack of evidence to establish intention to harm the reputation of the government.Observing that the punishment was shockingly disproportionate to the unintentional forwarding of the message, Justice Alok Mathur held:“The petitioner's admission that he inadvertently forwarded the message is a significant factor. In my opinion, the punishment should have been more lenient, such as an adverse entry in his service records or a censure. As a government servant, he should have exercised caution when dealing with such objectionable content, but his actions were not malicious. A more proportionate response would have been appropriate given the circumstances.”"The Court considered the petitioner's admission as being made in the context of an honest mistake, where he had tried to delete the message and asked others to do the same. The admission was not an acknowledgment of an intentional attempt to harm the Government's reputation. The Court, therefore, finds that the dismissal was disproportionate to the nature of the offense, especially in light of the lack of evidence regarding the circulation of the message. It emphasizes that the department should have acknowledged the petitioner's fairness in admitting the mistake and could have issued a warning instead of imposing a harsh penalty. While the admission of forwarding the message inadvertently was considered strong evidence, the Court highlights that the admission did not indicate an intention to defame the Government. It was simply an acknowledgment of an error, and the petitioner had taken steps to mitigate any potential damage by deleting the message and informing others," the court added. BackgroundPetitioner was serving as Additional Private Secretary in the State Secretariat of Uttar Pradesh when a certain message was forwarded on the WhatsApp group of which he was the administrator. Though the petitioner tried to delete the message, he accidently forwarded it. The message, referring to CM Yogi Adityanath, was deemed objectionable by the State. Petitioner also requested the group members to delete the message. He, of his own accord, wrote to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh apologizing for the incident. Based on this letter of the petitioner, a disciplinary inquiry was initiated against him for forwarding objectionable messages against CM and Deputy CM. In the Inquiry Report, it was found that the charges were not proved except the admission made by the petitioner regarding forwarding the message. Inquiry Officer further clarified that the “delete for everyone” option was not available at that time and that the message was deleted before it could be spread further. Subsequently, a Technical Committee was set up which opined that the petitioner could have deleted the message for everyone. Based on this, finding petitioner guilty of misconduct, his services were terminated. When petitioner approached the writ jurisdiction of the Allahabad High Court, the punishment order was set aside. However, the judgment of the single judge was overturned in Special Appeal on grounds of lack of territorial jurisdiction. Thereafter, petitioner approached the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court. FindingsExamining the rules for conduct of inquiry and disciplinary proceedings under the U.P. Government Servant (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1999, the Court held that once the charges were held to be not proven in the Inquiry Report, the alleged act of indiscipline under the Rules was not proven. It was noted that the only proof of the message being forwarded was the petitioner's own admission. No witnesses who had received or read the message were available. It was observed that no documentary evidence was available to show that the message was indeed deleted. “In misconduct cases, it must first be determined whether the action was deliberate and whether it was serious enough to warrant severe punishment. The disciplinary authority's decision to terminate the petitioner's service was based on the report of the Inquiry Officer and the Technical Committee, which found that the petitioner forwarded the message but did not establish that he did so deliberately with the intent to damage the Government's reputation. The disciplinary authority assumed that since the petitioner deleted the message after realizing the severity of his action, this constituted an act of misconduct.”Further, the Court held that the formation of the technical Committee was not in accordance with the Rules of 1999 and was totally unnecessary as the clarification purported to be sought from such committee had already been sought from the...

Actions Not Malicious: Allahabad HC Grants Relief To Addl Private Secretary Sacked For Unintentionally Forwarding WhatsApp Message Against CM

Upasna Agrawal

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