Enquiry Officer Acting As Prosecutor And Leading Examination-In-Chief Vitiates Departmental Enquiry: Rajasthan High Court Reiterates

Rajasthan High Court has reiterated that in a departmental enquiry, if the enquiry officer himself/ herself acted as the prosecutor, the entire departmental enquiry would stand vitiated.

The bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand was hearing a petition against an order passed by the government terminating the petitioner from his service in the CRPF.

It was the case of the petitioner that at the time of conducting the enquiry, the enquiry officer played the role of the presenting officer by asking several questions to the witnesses and then submitting an enquiry report, leading to his termination. The counsel for the petitioner argued that such acts of the enquiry officer made him biased against the petitioner and also violated his principles of natural justice.

On the other hand, it was argued by the respondents that since there was no presenting officer appointed by the authorities, the enquiry officer, to be able to conduct the enquiry, asked those questions, and drew conclusion based on the evidence led before him leading to filing an enquiry report against the petitioner.

The Court referred to Union of India v Ram Lakhan Sharma (2018) wherein “...principles were laid down by the Apex Court, that the adjudicator shall be impartial and free from bias, he shall not act as a prosecutor/adjudicator, a witness cannot become an adjudicator, an adjudicator must not include his personal knowledge to the facts of the case while conducting the enquiry and the adjudicator shall not decide on the dictates of his superiors or others.”

The Ram Lakhan Case had ruled that by acting as a prosecutor, the capacity of the enquiry officer as an independent adjudicator was lost adversely affecting that role in which case the principle of bias came into play and the dismissal of termination orders in such case was upheld.

“Herein the instant case, the enquiry officer has acted as a prosecutor, who put several questions to the witnesses in examination-in-chief and on the basis of the same the enquiry was conducted and the charges were found to be proved against the petitioner and accordingly, the final order was passed by the disciplinary authority for removing the petitioner,” Court observed and set aside the enquiry report.

Title: Mahendra Singh v Union of India & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 245

Click Here To Read/Download Order