On Monday, the Supreme Court held that in a Disciplinary Inquiry, the Disciplinary Authority need not to record detailed reasons for imposing punishment after considering the Enquiry Report.
A Bench of Hon’ble Justice Ashok Bhushan, Hon’ble Justice R. Subhash Reddy and Hon’ble Justice MR Shah further held merely because proposed punishment has been mentioned in Show Cause Notice, it cannot be presumed that Disciplinary Authority has taken a decision.
The facts of the case are that the Disciplinary Authority accepting the report of Inquiry Officer imposed the punishment of Compulsory Retirement. The same was challenged before the Gauhati High Court, which dismissed the petition and upheld the order of the disciplinary authority.
The ground of challenge before the Supreme Court was that the order of disciplinary authority is without recording any reason for imposing the punishment.
The Supreme Court observed that the applicable procedure of disciplinary authority has been followed in the present case.
A three Judges Bench of the Supreme Court held that once the disciplinary authority has accepted the report of Inquiry Officer, there is no need to record elaborate reasons for the same.
Since the employee had virtually admitted the charges, therefore the plea of disproportionate charges was also rejected by the court.
