Disciplinary Authority Can't Impose Major And Minor Penalty Simultaneously By Single Order: Patna High Court

The Patna High Court has held that a major punishment and a minor punishment cannot be “packaged” into a single composite order and imposed simultaneously. A Single Judge Bench of Justice Sandeep Kumar was hearing a writ petition filed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police challenging the punishment order by which he was visited with the penalty of withholding of five increments with cumulative effect, along with prohibition on promotion for five years from the due date of promotion.The Petitioner, a Sub-Divisional Police Officer, was entrusted with the supplementary investigation in an alleged illegal mining case. It was alleged that instead of taking steps to confiscate illegal monies involved in the illegal transactions, the Petitioner issued a'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) for de-freezing of bank accounts, which resulted in the release of the funds of the accused persons.As such, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him for dereliction of duty and suspicious conduct which resulted in aforementioned major and minor penalties.The petitioner contended that withholding of five increments with cumulative effect is classified as a major punishment, whereas prohibition on promotion for five years from the due date of promotion constitutes a minor punishment under Rule 14 of the Bihar CCA Rules, 2005. On this basis, it was argued that the imposition of both punishments through a single order was unsustainable in law.The High Court, relying upon the Supreme Court's decision in Union of India & Anr. v. S.C. Parashar, held that major and minor punishments cannot be combined and imposed simultaneously through one order. The High Court held:“In the present case also, the disciplinary authority vide impugned order has imposed both major and minor penalties together, which is impressible and unsustainable in view of the afore-quoted judgment. Even, a perusal of the concurrence given by the Bihar Public Service Commission on the proposed punishment, it appears that though the Commission has mentioned about the major and minor punishment but has not given any reason for concurring with the proposed punishment which is an amalgamation of both major and minor punishment.”Accordingly, the Court held that the impugned punishment order was not sustainable to the extent that it combined a major and a minor punishment in one order.However, considering the gravity of the charges levelled against the petitioner, the Court modified the punishment order and sustained the major penalty of withholding of five increments with cumulative effect. At the same time, the Court quashed and set aside the minor punishment of prohibition on promotion for five years from the due date of promotion.Case Title: Manoj Kumar Sudhanshu v. State of Bihar & Ors.Case Number: Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No. 4443 of 2023.Appearances: Mr. Y.V. Giri, Mr. Rohit Kumar, Mr. Manish Kumar, and Ms. Priti Kumari appeared for the Petitioner. Mr. P.K. Verma and Ms. Suman Kumar Jha appeared for the Respondent.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Disciplinary Authority Can't Impose Major And Minor Penalty Simultaneously By Single Order: Patna High Court

Rushil Batra

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