Simultaneous Criminal & Departmental Proceedings- Practical guideleines

The departmental authorities always face a problem as to whether they should initiate the departmental proceedings when criminal action is taken against employee. The finalization of the criminal proceedings take a long time and it is not desirable to continue the tainted employee unpunished.Therefore the following practical guidelines are mentioned below for the consideration and adoption by the departmental authorities.
1) Remember that departmental proceedings are different from criminal proceedings, though based on same transaction or incident. Departmental action is for violation of departmental rules.
2) The question of stay of departmental inquiry does not arise if the charges are different from those in the criminal case.
3) Issue the charge sheet for departmental proceedings without any delay.
4) Please see that a charge other than the criminal charge like, breach of specific conduct rule is also    included in the charge sheet in addition to a criminal conduct.
5) Oppose the application for stay of departmental proceedings, if filed by the employee in a court. Please site various  court judgments which have ruled that simultaneous proceedings can be initiated.
6) If the court grants stay , take the steps to get the stay vacated.
7) Remember that the departmental proceedings can be conducted with the help of certified copies of the documents filed in criminal court.

If the above guidelines are followed it will be possible to ensure that immediate action is taken against the erring employees .

Acquittal in disproportionate --No immunity from Departmental Action

The Supreme Court in case of disproportionate  Assets case ( Govt. Of India V/S C. Murlidhar, 1997 Lab IC(SC) 284) has held that the acquittal of the employee in criminal case does not mean that no departmental proceedings can be started against him in respect of the transactions done without intimation or permission of the authorities concerned. It means despite of the acquittal of the employee in case of having disproportionate assets case, the departmental proceedings can be initiated for violation of conduct Rules.   

Steps for conducting inquiry in case of allegation of Sexual Harassment

There are number of instances where there are allegations of sexual harassment against the Government Servants. In most of the offices Complaints committees have been formed but the experience has been that the Chairmen and  Members of the complaints committee are not conversant with the procedure of conduct of inquiry with the result the orders imposing penalty against the delinquent employees are set aside by the appellate authorities or the Tribunals/Courts. Therefore the Department of Personnel and Training have circulated " Steps for conducting inquiry in case of allegation of Sexual Harassment" under their O.M. dated 16th July 2015. The said O.M. is made available on this blog at Serial No.9 under the caption "Worth Visiting" in the right side bar.

The persons interested may get it downloaded, if required.

No work yet pay" applies only in case of compulsory waiting for joing duty

Elucidating the principle of ‘No work, no pay’, the bench of Madan B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph, JJ held that the aforementioned principle is the rule and it’s exception is ‘no work, yet pay’. Citing the instance of such exception, the Court said that compulsory waiting period is one such exception and to qualify for the exception, an employee has to establish that he had made earnest endeavors and yet that he was not able to join duty for no fault on his part. Furthermore, he must also show his earnestness to join duty. Voluntary waiting is not covered under exception.