Inquiry is vitiated if proper procedure is not followed

207. Inquiry is vitiated if proper procedure is not followed

It has been held by the Supreme Court that the procedural guarantee in the departmental proceedings is, undoubtedly, a valuable one and its breach shall vitiate the whole proceeding, resulting in annulment of any order based thereon [C.L. Subramanian v. Collector of Customs, AIR 1972 SC 2178). Therefore, in the departmental proceedings, it is absolutely essential, that :

(i) the inquiry is held by an authority competent in that behalf [State of Andhra v. Sree Rama Rao, AIR 1963 SC 1723];

(ii) the proceedings are held in accordance with the prescribed procedure (ibid.);

(iii) there is no violation of the principles of natural justice (U.P. Warehousing Corpn. v. V.N. Vajpayee, AIR 1980 SC 840];

(iv) action is not based or actuated by extraneous or collateral considerations or by bias or bad faith (Sree Rama Rao case, supra; Partap Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1964 SC 72];

(v) no adverse material is considered against the charged employee except after giving him an opportunity to explain it [Union of India v. Mohd. Ramzan Khan, AIR 1991 SC 471];

(vi) there is some legally available evidence on record which may reasonably support the conclusion that the delinquent employee is, in fact, guilty of the charge (Union of India v. H.C. Goel, AIR 1964 SC 364; State of Assam v. Mohan Chandra Kalita, AIR 1972 SC 2535]. Such evidence may not be in the sense of technical rules governing regular proceedings but in a fair common sense manner as men of understanding and worldly wisdom will accept (State of Haryana v. Rattan Singh, AIR 1977 SC 1512]

 

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