Dismissal from service hurts reputation, so can’t be done without enquiry: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka upheld the setting aside of the order dismissing a contract employee from service without even an enquiry.

“Dismissing a person from service, whether his engagement is on regular basis or on contract basis, has serious consequences not only on his livelihood but also reputation which is a precondition for other employment,” the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit said in the judgement upholding the reinstatement of one Sunil Kumar to the Hanur Town Panchayat.

Kumar had been dismissed from service which he had challenged before the High Court. The singlejudge bench had ordered that he be reinstated sans backwages.

The HC found that no enquiry was held before ordering his dismissal. The court however granted the liberty to the Panchayat to take action against Kumar in accordance with law on the allegations made against him.

The Panchayat however approached the division bench against the order of the single-judge.

The division bench upheld the order of the single judge and said, “In our system, the principles of natural justice are treated as part of Article 14. Therefore, no person can be condemned unheard. In Biblical literature, even God is said to have given an opportunity of hearing to Adam and Eve before punishing them for eating the forbidden fruit in the Eden garden.”

The division bench said that the single-judge order has done justice to both sides and there was no need to challenge it.

“The learned Single Judge has rightly set at naught the dismissal order of the employee. He has done justice to both the sides inasmuch as he has treated the period of dismissal as dies non and thereby, denied arrears of wages. Added, liberty is also reserved for holding inquiry if the employer so desires. The impugned order thus has brought about a just result, regardless of arguable lacunae therein. Such orders do not merit challenge,” the HC said dismissing the appeal. (WA 149/2023)