When Dealing With Matters Of Concealment, Courts Ought To Juxtapose The Nature Of Concealment With The Nature And Terms Of Recruitment: Rajasthan HC

A single judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court comprising of Justice Sameer Jain while deciding a Civil Writ Petition in the case of Nand Kishore Meena vs General Manager, Disciplinary Officer, Oriental Bank of Commerce has held that while dealing with matters of concealment, the courts ought to juxtapose the nature of concealment on part of the applicant with the nature and terms of the recruitment.

Background Facts

Nand Kishore Meena (Petitioner) had applied for the post of Cleaner-Class IV. In the application form, the Petitioner categorically mentioned that he had never been arrested/prosecuted/kept under detention or convicted by any Court of law for any offense involving moral turpitude. However, the Petitioner concealed the fact that he had been arrested and prosecuted in a case of theft in which he was acquitted on account of his own admission by taking the benefit under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. Due to the concealment, the Oriental Bank of Commerce (Respondent) terminated the services of the Petitioner. The Petitioner filed an appeal against the order of termination which was dismissed by the concerned Tribunal. Aggrieved by the same, the Petitioner filed the present Civil Writ Petition.

Findings of the Court

The court observed that despite having knowledge about the same, the Petitioner concealed material information regarding his previous prosecution in order to secure employment with the Respondent. The recruitment for the post of Cleaner-Class IV is to be administered as per the requirements of the Respondent and ascertainment of the requirements/criteria is purely on the discretion of the Respondent.

The court further observed that when dealing with matters of concealment, the Courts ought to juxtapose the nature of suppression/concealment on part of the applicant with the nature and/or terms of the recruitment. The decision regarding what information is material for assessing the candidature of the applicants is purely in the domain of the employer.

With the aforesaid observations, the Civil Writ Petition was dismissed.

Case No.- Civil Writ Petition No. 1724/2024

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 79

Case Name- Nand Kishore Meena vs General Manager, Disciplinary Officer, Oriental Bank of Commerce

Counsel for the Petitioner- Mr. Rishi Raj Maheshwari for Mr. Himanshu Jain

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