HC: Look before punishing staff

The Hyderabad High Court has said that the job charter of a government servant has to be looked into by the disciplinary authority before imposing punishment.

A division bench comprising Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar and Justice Anis was setting aside a penalty — of stoppage of one increment with cumulative effect — against regional transport officer P. Sudhakar Reddy.

The petitioner said that he was posted in Mancherial in Adilabad district during 2002-03. Within his jurisdiction was a transport check post at Wankidi, 80 km from Mancherial.

The Anti Corruption Bureau conducted a surprise check at the Wankidi check post on September 17, 2003, at 3 am, and found certain irregularities. The authorities issued him a showcause notice in 2005, and a regular departmental inquiry was held.

Though the enquiry officer held that the charge of slack supervision against was not proved, the transport commissioner of the erstwhile AP government differed with report and imposed penalty on the ground of slack supervision, Mr Sudhakar Reddy said.

The bench observed that a RTO who has overall supervisory control over several check posts cannot be expected to be present at each and every one of them at each and every given moment of the day to prevent irregularities.

The bench pointed out, “the job charter of the petitioner was not even looked into by the disciplinary authority to ascertain whether he was required to be present at every check post within his jurisdiction at every given moment of the day, which is practically impossible.”

The bench found that the disciplinary authority did not explain how the petitioner could be expected to be at the Wankidi check post at 3 am, when he was stationed at Mancherial.