Allowing disciplinary proceedings to continue endlessly destructive of Rule of Law, says HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday said disciplinary proceedings cannot continue endlessly as it would be destructive of the Rule of Law and highly prejudicial to the official facing it.

The court's observations were made while dealing with the central government's challenge to a CAT order rejecting its plea for an extension of time to complete the departmental inquiry against the petitioner, an Officer on Special Duty (Legal at the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs).

There is no gainsaying the legal position that the Disciplinary Proceedings cannot continue ad infinitum. Allowing such proceedings to continue ad infinitum would not only be highly prejudicial to the Petitioner herein but destructive of the Rule of Law, said the bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta.

The court stated that the Union of India is bound to act in a fair non-discriminatory, reasonable, and non-capricious manner, and in the normal course, the disciplinary proceedings, in this case, ought to have been concluded by the end of 2016. The petitioner was suspended on August 21, 2013, for an incident of July 2013 and was subsequently served with a departmental charge sheet/memorandum of charge dated July 07, 2015.

However, in spite of the efflux of almost five years from the issuance of the charge sheet and the grant of two extensions by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), the departmental inquiry was not concluded by the central government authorities and finally, in July 2021, the CAT rejected the Centre's application for further extension of time and directed that the sealed cover qua the petitioner be opened forthwith, and he be granted promotions at par with his juniors.