The Govt. As regards the assistance of a lawyer is concerned, it has been said that there is no Common Law right in a party to a proceedings to be represented by a lawyer. In that case, the employee concerned will have the right to represent against it in accordance with the rules. However, in order to give due importance to the principle of natural justice and to avoid judicial scanner, the concerned employee is normally given an opportunity to be heard about the allegations against him. The procedure is lengthy in order to ensure that he performs his responsibilities without any pressure or corruption. For Further Details Contact: (c) Care should be taken as to avoid any genuine suspension of bias. The Charge-sheet may be served personally, by post or through the press. They are pillars of the Govt. Replying of the employee to the charge-sheet. Charge Sheet & Domestic Enquiry. Note* we only accept Original Articles, we will not accept house disciplinary enquiry offends the applicant’s contractual rights – alternatively, the first respondent is bound by the doctrine of election. 7. He must, on a request made by him, in that behalf, be supplied with the copies of the statements of the witnesses, recorded during the preliminary inquiry, particularly, if those witnesses are proposed to be examined at departmental trial. 425/04/2012-AVD-IV(A) dated 29.11.2012] Question: What is the time limit for seeking representation of Charged Officer on inquiry report and disagreement of Disciplinary Authority, if any on it? Final order. Further, The disciplinary authority is free to consider the past service record of the delinquent while imposing penalty. Conclusion:- Thus the procedure for taking disciplinary action against a Government servant is lengthy and detailed one. Therefore, there should be sufficient material on record to show the service of the charge-sheet on the employee concerned. The delinquent employee is entitled to an opportunity to defend himself either in person or through another employee. Vs C.S. Preliminary enquiry may even be conducted exparte. A faulty charge-sheet may invalidate the whole proceedings. After examining the report, the disciplinary authority should decide as to whether a prima facie case exists for the initiation of regular departmental inquiry or not. The authority would forward the same with its comments thereon, together with the relevant records, to the appellate authority without any delay. Thereafter the delinquent held prima facie responsible for misconduct, is required to submit his reply to the show cause notice within stipulated period prescribed in the show cause notice. Answer: The charge sheet should be issued to Charged Officer within a week from the date of receipt of the decision of Disciplinary Authority. It has been held that in departmental proceedings, the delinquent has no right to be represented by an Advocate and that the proceedings would not be bad only for the reason that the assistance of an Advocate was not provided to him. Refusal to consider the name for promotion only on this ground has been held illegal. Again, where in a departmental proceedings, a counsel is engaged on behalf of the disciplinary authority, denial to the delinquent to engage a lawyer, would amount to denial of a reasonable opportunity. It refers to the written and formal intimation to the delinquent, about the alleged misconduct so that he has full knowledge of the acts or conduct, he is accused of. However, furnishing of a copy of the preliminary inquiry report along with the charge-sheet would not be necessary in every case, particularly when it is not to be the foundation of the proceedings. The Rules enumerate the following two kinds of penalties:- (a) Minor Penalties:- (i)Censure (ii) Withholding of promotion (iii) Recovery from pay (iv) Withholding of increment of pay, without cumulative effect. The requisites of a valid charge or charge sheet are the following: (a) The Charge should not be vague:- The charge must be specific, particular and precise. If the charges against the delinquent stand proved, then disciplinary authority issues a Show Cause Notice to the delinquent proposing the penalty prescribed under the rules. ( State of U.P. If the disciplinary authority is of the opinion that the charges against the delinquent have not been proved and that the delinquent should be exonerated, it will pass an order to that effect and communicate it to the government servant concerned. If he refuses to give receipt, an endorsement to that effect be made on it, in the presence of at least two witnesses. Penalty Proposed. The appeal should be complete in all respects and contain all material statements on which the reliance is placed. The charges, in respect to which the explanation is found to be satisfactory, should be dropped. No proceedings for revision should be commenced, until after the expiry of the period of limitation of appeal or the disposal of the appeal, where any such appeal has been preferred. When disciplining an employee, it is very important that the allegations (or charges) are correctly described. No hard and fast rule in this respect can be laid down. It is a document containing the allegations of misconduct, called the ''Charge", leveled against the employee concerned. The LAC summarised the relevant principles involved in the formulation of disciplinary charges as follows: - An employee must be made aware of the charges against him or her. The writer can be approached at Ramanjeet@legalserviceindia.com, Submit your Article by using our online form They start shirking work, do not do their work as per rules and orders and indulge in other kinds of misconduct. These are:- A) No removal or dismissal by an authority subordinate to the appointing authority. It should be handed over to the employee concerned and its receipt be obtained from him. Some times, the official concerned may have some strong defense with him which prima facie exonerate him from the allegations for which the preliminary inquiry is being held. He may, however, reject the request of the delinquent to summon a witness, if he is satisfied that the witness is not necessary or material for the case and the object behind the request is to harass the witness. His role is merely to assist the Inquiry Officer in presenting the evidence on behalf of the disciplinary authority and not to establish the case of the department. (State of Haryana Vs Roshan Lal, AIR 1970 ( P&H) 739.Where such power is so vested, the designated authority shall exercise this power within the period of limitation. It should be a self contained and reasoned order conforming to the legal requirements. Vs K.S.Tandon, AIR 2008 SC 1235) The detailed analysis of various steps of the departmental proceedings is provided as under:- (1)Lodging of a complaint: The departmental proceedings against a Government servant starts with the lodging of a complaint with the disciplinary authority. - The charges must be specific enough for the employee to be able to answer them. employees have different work culture and responsibilities as compared to their counterparts in private sector. After the conclusion of preliminary inquiry, a brief record of the proceedings should be prepared in writing. 3. ... Enquiry Proceedings Enquiry proceedings in to the charge sheet No____ dated ___ issued to Mr.___ (Time, date and place of enquiry) Present 1. Lodging of complaint or making allegations of misconduct against the Govt. (V.K. Therefore, in order to discipline them and to control them, the concept of departmental proceedings is provided in the service rules. Shopian fake encounter: J&K Police file charge sheet, name Army captain, two others as accused ... Disciplinary proceedings under the Army Act were initiated against the accused personnel. The preliminary inquiry is conducted by the officer superior to the delinquent on the directions of the disciplinary authority so that disciplinary authority comes to the conclusion that as to whether or not it is necessary to hold a regular departmental inquiry. 12. However, the appellate authority may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period of 45 days, if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal in time. The departmental proceedings against a public servant has to go through various steps such as: 1. You can change your ad preferences anytime. The inquiry to be conducted by the Inquiry Officer, being a quasi-judicial matter, attracts the principles of natural justice. An application for revision should be dealt with in the same manner as if it were an appeal under the Rules. in particular and public in general. Vs Shatrughan Lal, AIR 1998, SC 3038). In order to ensure that Govt. In order to enable the employee concerned to prepare his explanation, it is obligatory on the part of the disciplinary authority to allow the official concerned to inspect the official record, documents and take copies thereof. (i) To ensure that the delinquent is given an opportunity to give an explanation to defend himself, it is obligatory on the part of the disciplinary authority to furnish the delinquent not only with a copy of charge-sheet but also the grounds on which those charges were based and the circumstances in which it was proposed to take action against him. The complaint may be made by an ordinary citizen or superior officer of the employee. In disciplinary proceedings, the question is whether the charged official is guilty of such conduct as would merit his removal from service or a lesser punishment. It is only because of loyalty of Govt. Government Servants play a very important role to run the administration of the Country. The charge sheet must be formulated in precise and simple terms and charges may not be vague. It would be vague if it does not give any indication of charges against the employee. However, the provisions of Indian Evidence Act,1872, do not apply to departmental inquiries. The purpose of disciplinary hearings is to ensure that accused employees have an opportunity to lead evidence in rebuttal of the charge, and to challenge the assertions of their accusers before an adverse decision is taken. (U.P.S.S. (iii) Review:- Right of review is not a right of appeal, where all questions decided are open to challenge.In the absence of any specific provision authorizing the authority to review an order passed in disciplinary proceedings, it is not permissible for an authority to review the order. [DoP&T’s O.M. A copy of the appeal, complete in itself, shall be forwarded by the appellant to the authority which made the order appealed against. Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police Saturday filed a charge sheet in a local court against three persons, including an Army captain, for their involvement in the controversial ‘encounter’ of three youths on 18 July in Shopian district. servants, the British could rule India for such a longer period. ( F.C.I. (K.B.Rai Vs State of Punjab, 1996(1) SLR(P&H) 353). A charge sheet against the respondent was filed in the Court of Special Judge, Mysore for the offences ... proceedings. The said rule requires that the disciplinary authority shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the Government Servant a copy of the Articles of Charge, the statement of imputations of misconduct or misbehavior and a list of documents and witnesses by which each … It may revise, review or modify an earlier order if it finds that the earlier order was contrary to the Constitution of India or provision of law or was otherwise arbitrary or unfair. Scrutiny of the reply by the disciplinary authority. - The charges must be specific enough for the employee to be able to answer them. By no means it should show that the disciplinary has already reached a conclusion. A government employee is expected to perform his duties with utmost care, efficiency, economy and effectiveness. The landmark decision in Avril Elizabeth Home for the Mentally Handicapped v Commission for Conciliation Mediation and … Since it is not necessary to hold preliminary inquiry before initiation of regular departmental inquiry, however, it would be desirable to hold such an enquiry in the following cases:- (i) Where it is not immediately known as to who was responsible for a particular act or loss; (ii) Where it is considered desirable before initiating departmental proceedings to have prima facie evidence against the official concerned; (iii) Where the allegations are vague or indefinite and it is necessary to find out all the acts of commission or omission to form the basis of the charges. They provide public services to the citizens at the grass root level and in the same way, they forward grievances of the public, their representations and demands to higher ups for their effective resolution. 4. If the employee is able to establish that no charge-sheet was served upon him, the entire disciplinary proceedings would become invalid. After the conclusion of the Inquiry, the Inquiry Officer shall draw up a report which generally consists of the following:- (a) A brief Introduction leading to the appointment of the Inquiry, Inquiry Officer and the dates of hearing. The move comes after it was noticed that authorities and officials concerned are not adhering to the prescribed time-limit and disciplinary proceedings in some … However, as is said by Lord Acton that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, many a times, some Govt. Although the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act,1872, do not apply to the departmental proceedings but the principal of natural justice has to be followed. The expression ''Charge-sheet" is borrowed from criminal law. However, the employer refused to provide this clarity. 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