Termination Of Services Without Disciplinary Enquiry Violates Principles Of Natural Justice : Supreme Court Reinstates College Registrar

Observing that the termination of the services of the employee without holding disciplinary enquiry violates the principles of natural justice, the Supreme Court directed the reinstatement of the Registrar at the GB Pant Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghurdauri.

"...we are of the firm view that the termination of the services of the appellant without holding disciplinary enquiry was totally unjustified and dehors the requirements of law and in gross violation of principles of natural justice. Hence, the learned Division Bench of the High Court fell in grave error in dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant on the hypertechnical ground that the minutes of 26th meeting of the Board of Governors dated 16th June, 2018 had not been placed on record.”, the Bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said.

The appellant challenged the termination on the note that before taking the action of terminating the services of the appellant, neither any enquiry was conducted nor any opportunity to show cause was given to the appellant and merely on the ipse dixit of respondent No.2, the services of the appellant were terminated.

The appellant's termination from the post of the Registrar was supported by the respondents on the ground that he did not possess the requisite qualifications as per the rules. Moreover, it was contended by the respondents there was no requirement to hold a regular enquiry before terminating the services of the appellant as the appellants had suppressed the material information regarding his suspension.

Rejecting the respondent's contention, the Judgment authored by Justice Sandeep Mehta observed that the decision to terminate the services of the appellant from the post of Registrar was not preceded by an opportunity to show cause or any sort of disciplinary proceedings.

“As per the extracted portion of the appointment letter (supra), the appellant was placed on probation for a period of one year which was extendable for another year in case, the performance during the first year was found to be unsatisfactory. Clause (b) further provided that during probation, services of the incumbent may be terminated without assigning any reason by giving one month's notice or pay in lieu thereof. There is no dispute on the aspect that the appellant had satisfactorily worked on the post of Registrar in the Institute for nearly two years and thus, apparently he completed the probation period without demur.”

The court held that the termination of the appellant was illegal, and the appeal was allowed accordingly with a direction to reinstate the appellant on the post of Registrar with all consequential benefits thereto.

Counsels For Petitioner(s) Mr. Gautam Narayan, Adv. Ms. Asmita Singh, AOR Ms. Asmita Singh, Adv. Mr. Harshit Goel, Adv. Mr. Sujay Jain, Adv. Mr. K.V. Vibu Prasad, Adv.

Counsels For Respondent(s) Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Sr. Adv. Ms. Devyani Gupta, AOR Ms. Arjoo Rawat, Adv.

Case Title: SANDEEP KUMAR VS. GB PANT INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY GHURDAURI

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 308

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