Termination of services without disciplinary enquiry breaches justice principles, rules SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on April 16, 2024, pronounced a significant verdict on the termination of an employee’s services without conducting a disciplinary enquiry, deeming it unjust and a gross violation of natural justice principles. Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta presided over the bench that annulled a termination order issued to Sandeep Kumar, the appellant and former registrar of G B Pant Institute of Engineering and Technology, Ghurdauri, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.

This decision was reinforced by the court’s nullification of the Uttarakhand High Court’s division bench order dated February 21, 2023, and the single bench order dated August 4, 2022.

The apex court criticised the division bench of the high court for dismissing the appellant’s writ petition on a hyper-technical ground related to the absence of minutes from the 26th meeting of the Board of Governors on record. This omission was viewed by the high court as a suppression of material facts warranting dismissal of the petition. However, the appellant’s counsel contended that the failure to produce the minutes was neither intentional nor malicious, citing that the Board had indeed approved the recommendations of the Selection Committee, affirming the appellant’s appointment. Additionally, the appellant referenced an appointment letter from December 2, 2019, which indicated his probationary period as one year. As he continued to serve satisfactorily for nearly two years, his services were considered automatically regularised as per the letter’s terms.

Contrarily, the respondents argued that the appellant’s appointment was invalid due to insufficient qualifications and therefore justified the termination without a disciplinary enquiry. However, they conceded that no such enquiry had been conducted prior to the termination.