“Unjust To Sustain Departmental Findings After Acquittal On Identical Evidence”: Bombay High Court Quashes CISF Officer's Dismissal

The Bombay High Court has held that dismissal from service based on findings in departmental proceedings cannot be sustained where the delinquent employee has been acquitted in a criminal trial arising from the same incident and based on identical evidence. The Court observed that where the charges, witnesses, evidence, and circumstances in both proceedings are substantially the same, allowing the departmental findings to stand after acquittal in the criminal case would be unjust and oppressive.A division bench of Justices Anil S. Kilor and Raj D. Wakode was hearing a writ petition filed by a dismissed Assistant Commandant of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), challenging the order dated 23 December 2014 dismissing him from service following disciplinary proceedings. A departmental inquiry concluded that all the charges against the petitioner had been proved, and the disciplinary authority imposed the penalty of dismissal from service. During the pendency of the writ petition, the petitioner was acquitted by the Sessions Court in the criminal trial after a full trial. The High Court noted that the principal charge in the departmental inquiry concerning the alleged relationship with the complainant was identical to the charges tried in the criminal proceedings. The same evidence, witnesses, and factual circumstances had been relied upon in both proceedings.“… if the evidence in departmental inquiry and the criminal proceedings were the same without there being any iota of difference, it would be unjust and unfair and rather oppressive to allow the findings recorded in the departmental proceedings once the accused is acquitted in the criminal proceedings,” the Court observed. The Court also observed that the inquiry had proceeded ex parte despite the petitioner's family informing the authorities that he was suffering from severe mental health issues and was undergoing psychiatric treatment. The authorities had ignored these communications and continued with the inquiry, thereby depriving the petitioner of a fair opportunity to defend himself. The Court held that such conduct violated the principles of natural justice.In view of these findings, the High Court quashed the order dismissing the petitioner from service as well as the disciplinary proceedings. The Court also directed reinstatement of the petitioner but denied back wages for the intervening period considering that he himself had claimed inability to discharge duties due to medical treatment.Case Title: Bhupesh Tukaram Meshram v. Union of India & Ors. [Writ Petition No. 1101 of 2015]Click Here To Read/Download Order

“Unjust To Sustain Departmental Findings After Acquittal On Identical Evidence”: Bombay High Court Quashes CISF Officer's Dismissal

Saksham Vaishya

Tags