Jharkhand High Court: A writ petition filed against the order passed by the respondents whereby recovery of Rs. 1.90 lakh was to be made from the petitioner, was allowed by a Single Judge Bench comprising of Pramath Patnaik, J. due to the absence of a departmental enquiry before the passing of the order.
The petitioner, at the relevant time, was a Member of Finance in Jharkhand State Electricity Board. Alleging that he delayed in making certain payments, the petitioner was asked to show cause. The petitioner alleged that without giving a proper opportunity, the liability was fixed and order of recovery was passed against him. The said order was challenged by the petitioner.
The High Court considered the submissions made on behalf of the parties and perused the record. The Court found that the impugned order was passed by the respondents without holding any departmental proceedings. The order was passed only on the basis of the preliminary enquiry. The Court held the law to be well settled that culpability of an employee cannot be fastened basing only on the preliminary enquiry without holding a full-fledged departmental enquiry. It was held that the impugned order, punishing the petitioner, was not sustainable as it was passed without holding a departmental enquiry. Accordingly, the petition was allowed and the impugned order was set aside. [Niranjan Roy v. Jharkhand SEB, 2018 SCC OnLine Jhar 369, dated 15-05-2018]