Thought for Today, 29 th June 2020

Life is a trip. The only problem is that it does not come with a map. We have to search our own routes to reach our destination.

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Dismissed employee & continuance of other disciplinary proceedings

The issue as regards continuaunce of other disciplinary proceedings against a dismissed employee was recently considered by the Supreme Court in the Civil Appeal filed by the State Governemnt of Maharashtra  and decided on 29-1-2014, against the order passed by the High court restraining the State Government to continue the disciplinary proceedings against an I.A.S. officer who was already dismissed as a result of  disciplinary proceedings.The order of dismssal has been challenged by the emplyee in C.A.T.
The Supreme Court held that since the employee has already been dismissed, the employer & employee relationship has come to an end and therefore the second departmental proceedings cannot be continued. The Court however  observed that in case the order of dismissal  is set aside by the Tribunal or High Court, the employer- employee relation will get restored  and it will be permissible for the State Government to proceed with the second disciplinary  proceedings.. However the Court did not modify the order of the High Court , considering the fact that the charge sheet in the second disciplinary proceedings is 25 years old and the reopening of the proceedings will not serve any purpose.

The lesson to learn from the said judgement is, as under :
" The disciplinary proceedings cannot be continued against a dismissed employee and therefore be kept in abeyance. If the order of dismissal is set aside, the relationship of employer- employee gets restored and the disciplinary proceedings  be revived and finalized as per law."

The above said judement is available on this blog at S.No.25  in the list under the title " Disciplinary Proceedings- Important judgemnts"  Those interested can get it downloaded.

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