High Court sets aside Tribunal's order, reduces penalty period for Enquiry cum Reservation Clerk involved in ticketing irregularities.
In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has intervened in a disciplinary case involving a Railway Enquiry cum Reservation Clerk, modifying the penalty imposed for misconduct. The case, which involved the Union of India and B. Shankar Kumar, saw the High Court setting aside an earlier order from the Central Administrative Tribunal that had quashed the disciplinary proceedings against the clerk.
The bench, comprising Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and K. Kumaresh Babu, reviewed the case where B. Shankar Kumar was found guilty of accepting reservation forms from a third party and generating tickets without collecting the requisite cash. The misconduct led to a disciplinary action resulting in a reduction of pay, originally set for 40 months. This penalty was later extended to six years by the Appellate Authority.
The Tribunal had initially quashed the disciplinary proceedings, citing procedural lapses. However, the High Court found that the delinquency was sufficiently proven by probabilities and that there were no procedural violations during the disciplinary process. The High Court emphasized that service law does not require strict evidence but rather a probability-based assessment to establish misconduct.
In its final decision, the High Court modified the duration of the penalty, reducing it from six years to three years. The court ruled that after the punishment period, the employee's seniority, grade, and pay should be restored, while the grade pay remains constant.
This ruling underscores the High Court's stance on maintaining disciplinary standards within the railway service while ensuring that penalties are proportionate to the misconduct.
Bottom Line:
Service Law - Disciplinary Proceedings - Delinquency proved by probabilities - Tribunal's order set aside - Punishment modified by High Court.
Statutory provision(s): Railway Servants Discipline and Appeal Rules.
Union of India v. B.Shankar Kumar, (Madras)(DB) : Law Finder Doc id # 2857213
