{"id":244206,"date":"2021-02-22T11:20:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T05:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=244206"},"modified":"2021-02-26T12:13:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:43:28","slug":"corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/02\/22\/corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Tri HC | Once material has come to Government notice prima facie indicating that there was some corrupt practice, Government is duty-bound to act on the same; Court maintains departmental inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tripura High Court:<\/strong> Akil Kureshi, CJ., disposed of a writ petition which was filed challenging a departmental inquiry and suspension pending such departmental inquiry against the petitioner.<\/p>\n

Petitioner was a Junior Engineer in the Government of Tripura. A complaint was made against him holding assets disproportionate to his known source of income before the Lokayukta who upon completion of the investigation submitted his report in which he had concluded that the petitioner had received salary of Rs 22,13,279\/- for the period between 1998 to March, 2012 as against which he had created assets worth Rs 74,26,472\/- which was referable to the same period of 1998 to March, 2012. Lokayukta was of the opinion that the petitioner held assets disproportionate to his known source of income. He recommended initiation of departmental proceedings as well as criminal case against the petitioner and to place him under suspension. On 25th March, 2015 the disciplinary authority had issued a departmental charge sheet to the petitioner which contained two charges. Charge Article I was that as held by the Lokayukta in his report, the petitioner had amassed wealth far in excess of his known source of income. Charge Article II was that by such actions the petitioner had committed offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. On 13th May 2015, the disciplinary authority appointed Inquiry Officer.<\/p>\n

After hearing both the parties the Court decided that there were no reasons to quash the departmental inquiry. The Court observed that it was up to the Government to accept or to reject the recommendations of the Lokayukta. If the departmental inquiry or the criminal proceedings are not time barred, the State Government cannot be restrained from taking any action against the petitioner even if it is on the report of the Lokayukta. Once the material has come to the notice of the Government prima facie indicating that the petitioner has indulged in some corrupt practice, the Government is duty-bound to act on the same. It was, therefore, held that there was no merit in the petition; however, in any departmental or criminal proceeding which may be initiated against the petitioner he would have a full right to defend himself. Coming to the continued suspension, the Court held that firstly, the charges were extremely serious. Secondly, the petitioner was also facing a criminal case for offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act and thirdly, the competent authority has been reviewing the suspension order from time to time.[Bikash Bhowmik v. State of Tripura, 2021 SCC OnLine Tri 100<\/b><\/a>, decided on 18-02-2021]<\/p>\n

\n

Suchita Shukla, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tripura High Court: Akil Kureshi, CJ., disposed of a writ petition which was filed challenging a departmental inquiry and suspension pending such <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67011,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[2673,14131],"class_list":["post-244206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-highcourts","tag-corruption","tag-departmental-enquiry"],"yoast_head":"\nTri HC | Once material has come to Government notice prima facie indicating that there was some corrupt practice, Government is duty-bound to act on the same; Court maintains departmental inquiry | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Corruption\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/02\/22\/corruption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tri HC | Once material has come to Government notice prima facie indicating that there was some corrupt practice, Government is duty-bound to act on the same; 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Petitioner has prayed for quashing and setting aside a memorandum dated 19-03-2015 under which the department has issued a chargesheet to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":254871,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/09\/29\/jhar-hc-conclusion-of-departmental-proceeding-on-the-ground-of-conviction-by-trial-court-will-subsequent-acquittal-by-high-court-affect-the-outcome-of-departmental-proceeding\/","url_meta":{"origin":244206,"position":1},"title":"Jhar HC | Conclusion of Departmental proceeding on the ground of conviction by Trial Court; will subsequent acquittal by High Court affect the outcome of departmental proceeding?","author":"Editor","date":"September 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Jharkhand High Court: Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi, J. while holding the reason assigned by the Director-General of Police (DGP) while rejecting the claim of the petitioner to review the order of his suspension bad in law, directed the DGP to reconsider the matter. The petitioner had preferred this writ petition for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":253239,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/08\/26\/disciplinary-authority\/","url_meta":{"origin":244206,"position":2},"title":"Tri HC | Mere honesty and admission of charge are not the grounds for tempering with the order passed by disciplinary authority; Court dismisses appeal","author":"Editor","date":"August 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Tripura High Court: Akil Kureshi, CJ., dismissed a petition which was filed challenging an order passed by the Director of Elementary Education imposing punishment of compulsory retirement on the petitioner as also an order passed by the Secretary, Education (School) Department, Government of Tripura dismissing the appeal against the order\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case Briefs"","block_context":{"text":"Case Briefs","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/category\/casebriefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":259349,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2021\/12\/31\/jhar-hc-non-supply-of-documents-cannot-vitiate-the-enquiry-in-absence-of-showing-how-the-alleged-non-supply-caused-prejudice-to-workman\/","url_meta":{"origin":244206,"position":3},"title":"Jhar HC |\u00a0Non-supply of documents cannot vitiate the enquiry in absence of showing how the alleged non-supply caused prejudice to workman","author":"Editor","date":"December 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Jharkhand High Court: Shree Chandrashekhar, J. held that a charged employee has no unfettered right to ask for any document on which the department does not intend to place reliance. 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Sam Koshy J., dismissed the petition stating that no interference is required at this juncture keeping in mind the settled position of law. The facts of the case are such that Petitioner was working with the Respondents as Minig Sirdar, Grade-3. 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