National Commission For Scheduled Castes Cannot Initiate Enquiry On Specious Complaint, Unsubstantiated Allegations: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that National Commission For Scheduled Castes cannot initiate an enquiry under Article 338 of the Constitution of India based on a specious complaint and unsubstantiated allegations.

Justice Yashwant Varma said the Commission is empowered to initiate an enquiry only when a member of a Scheduled Caste (SC) is able to establish prima facie that he had been ill-treated or discriminated solely on account of the fact that he belonged to that class.

"The Commission is constitutionally empowered to enquire and investigate into instances of deprivation of rights of the Scheduled Castes/Tribes. That presupposes that the action complained of is founded on an allegation that a member of that particular class was discriminated against or arbitrarily dealt with solely on account of his social status," the court said.

Justice Varma also said every violation of a perceived civil right of a member of that class would not justify the Commission assuming jurisdiction.

The court made the observations while quashing all proceedings relating to a complaint made to the Commission against a company Torrent Power Limited.

The complaint was made by an Engineer working in the company, whose services were terminated a year after he was confirmed - on completion of the training period on April 9, 2011. However, the complaint was made on July 8, 2018, six years after his services were terminated.

The complaint alleged that the company started harassing him for the reason that he belonged to the SC community, even though he kept performing his duties effectively. It was also alleged that his services were terminated without mentioning any reason and fault.

Taking cognizance of the said complaint, the Commission had summoned the Principal Secretary (Power) of Uttar Pradesh Government and the company's Vice President (Technical). The company thereafter challenged the said proceedings before the High Court.

In January 2019, the company told the Commission that services of the engineer were terminated on the ground of non-performance. However, the engineer submitted that he was being harassed as an FIR has been registered against his father by Torrent Power.

It was the company's case before HC that the engineer was engaged on a contractual basis which was terminable with notice. It was argued that there was no occasion or justification for the Commission to take cognizance of the complaint which was made six years after the termination order was passed.

On the other hand, the counsel for the Commission opposed the plea by submitting that Commission had only initiated a process of enquiry and had not framed any directions which was prejudicial to the interest of the petitioner company.

It was also submitted that the proceedings issued were valid as the Commission had found that the complainant's services were terminated without the requisite notice as was contemplated in the appointment letter.

Allowing the plea, the court said that the complainant had merely made a general allegation that the petitioner company started harassing him "by different methods" since he belonged to the SC community. He did not allege or refer to any specific instance or instances in support of his allegation, the court noted. 

The bench added that it was incumbent upon the complainant to have alleged or at least prima facie established that the action of the company was actuated by mala fides or motivated by the fact that he belonged to a particular class.

"The Court further observes that the complaint itself came to be made almost six years after the services of the petitioner had come to be terminated. This was thus a factor which should have necessarily weighed with the Commission before it proceeded to initiate an enquiry," it said.

The court also said that the merits of the action of termination was liable to be investigated and enquired into only if the complainant was able to establish that the action was based on mala fides or motivated by the fact that he belonged to the SC community.

"The writ petition is accordingly allowed. All proceedings pertaining to the complaint registered as No. B-6/UP-53/2018/SSW-II shall consequently stand quashed," the court ordered.

Title: TORRENT POWER LIMITED v. NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR SCHEDULED CASTES & ORS.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 975

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