Court orders reinstatement of dismissed FCI employee
Special Correspondent
The writ petition was filed by a union leader
CHENNAI: Mere inability of the management to communicate a show-cause notice to an employee will not entitle it to dispense with the mandatory inquiry preceding dismissal from service, the Madras High Court has ruled.
Justice K. Chandru, passing orders on a writ petition filed by a union leader of the Food Corporation of India, said the management had dispensed with the inquiry as it was not possible for it to communicate its notice to the employee either in person or by post. “That cannot be a ground to dispense with the inquiry, because Regulation 75 of the Regulations provides that if an order is not able to be communicated, it provides for a method and mode of service of other means …”
En masse transfers
The matter relates to the dismissal of A. Anandan, who was transferred to Karnataka by the FCI administration. The management had transferred 46 employees en masse.
When he did not report for duty at the new place, the management inserted a series of notices in The Hindu, first intimating him about an inquiry and then a show-cause notice accompanied by an ultimatum. When he did not respond, he
was dismissed from service in December 2000.
The judge pointed out that Regulation 75(iii) of the Regulations mandated the authorities to publish the notice in local/regional newspapers and all-India newspapers. The management had not properly taken advantage of the “deemed service of notice” provision as it had published it only in an English daily and not a local/regional daily.
Flaying the management for its “misunderstanding” and “quixotic way of interpretation” of the regulations, Mr. Chandru set aside the dismissal of the employee and directed the management to reinstate him in service with all consequential benefits.
Printer friendly
page Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
