' THE REGISTRAR OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, MADRAS AND ANR. v. F.X. FERNANDO

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by c MOHAN, J. 1. Leave granted.

The facts leading to present appeal are as under: -,;.

The respondent joined the Co-operative Department as Deputy D ..... Registrar in the year 1969. He was promoted as Joint Registrar in 1981. He became the Joint Registrar/Special Officer of the Park Town Co-opera- tive Whole-sale Stores Ltd. in 1984.

2Copy pinpoint2. Durmg his tenure as the Joint Registrar/Special Officer of Park E Town Co-operative Whole Sale Stores Ltd. complaints were received by the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department. The said Department approached the Registrar, Co- operative Societies to furnish the details to investigate into the alleged irregularities. Thereupon, the Registrar furnished the relevant material. The Vigilance and Anti-Corrup- tion Department was requested to complete the enquiry on or before F 31.12.1987. However, no progress was made in that direction.

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3Copy pinpoint3. The Government of Tamil Nadu by its G.O. Ms. No.185 Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department dated 17.3.1988 amended Rule 12 of the Tamil Nadu Civil Service {Classification, Control and ~ppeal) G Rules. Under the said G.O., the powers imposing minor penalty came to be conferred on the Heads of the Departments. ..(_

4Copy pinpoint4. Finally, the Vigilan~e and Anti-Corruption department submitted its detailed report. On an exawination l ·f the same, the Government issued G.O. Ms. No. 371dated20.12.!')88 d1r~c:.ing the Registrar to take discipli- H

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A nary action against the respondent. Thereupon the Registrar issued the charge memo dated 20.3.1989. The Registrar (Marketing, Planning and Development) was appointed as Enquiry Officer to conduct the enquiry. The respondent appeared before the Enquiry Officer from 24.1.1990 to 20.3.1990. He also cross-examined one witness.

5Copy pinpoint5. On 20.3.1990, he made a representation to the appellant alleging bias against the Enquiry Officer. The complaint was rejected. Again, another representation to the same effect was made. That was also rejected on 8.5.1990 and the Registrar called upon the respondent to appear before """"(

the Enquiry Officer. At this stage, the respondent moved an application c 0.A. No. 1294 of 1990 before the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal to quash the order dated 8.5.1990 calling him by Registrar to appear before the Enquiry Officer.

6Copy pinpoint6. By the impugned order dated 19.3.1991, the Tribunal held that the proceedings under Rule 17(b) were liable to be set-aside on the. ground 4- D that the Registrar of Co-operative Societies was not empowered to impose J,.. even minor penalty. However, it was open to the Government as Discipli- nary Authority to initiate fresh action by issuing a charge memo and conclude the proceedings within a period of six months. Aggrieved by this order, the present civil appeal has come to be preferred. E

7Copy pinpoint7. The learned counsel for the appellant would urge that the Tribunal has completely ignored G.O. Ms. 185dated17.3.1988 by which the Govern- ment had delegated the power to the Heads of the Departments to impose minor penalties. 'T'

8Copy pinpoint8. Besides, by G.O. Ms. 371 dated 20.12.1988, the Government directed the Registrar to frame charges against the respondent and to initiate enquiry. Without regard to this G.O., the Tribunal has held as though Registrar on his own under Rule 17(b) has issued a charge memo ~, <

for which there was no power.

9Copy pinpoint9. The learned counsel for the respondent would submit that if the Disciplinary Authority is the Government, the Registrar is not competent tC) frame charges and direct eaquiry proceedings. >-

10Copy pinpoint10. We will now proceed to consider whether the impugned order of the Tribunal is correct. The finding of the Tribunal is as follows:

REGISTRAROFCO-OP.SOCIETIES v. F.X.FERNANDO(MOHAN,J.] 9b3

"The Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies is a state service officer ·and the disciplinary authority is the State Government. Therefore, proceedings under Rule 17(b) of the T.N.C.S. (CA) Rules can be initiated only by the person empowered to impose the penalties specified in that rule. The rules also contain a provision that an authority competent to impose the penalties mentioned in Rule 17(a) may institute a disciplinary action in respect of major penalties also. However, in this case, the Registrar of Co-operative Societies is not empowered even to impose the minor penalties and therefore initiation of disciplinary proceeding by him by issue of a charge memo and proceeding further by appoint- ment of Enquiry Officer is beyond his powers and therefore on this c ground alone the proceedings have to be set aside. It is open to the disciplinary authority viz., the Government to initiate action afresh by issuing the charge memo and after obtaining the written state- ment of defence of necessary by designating the Enquiry Officer." (emphasis supplied) + D

11Copy pinpoint11. This finding is clearly wrong since it has not taken note of the amendment made to Tamil nadu Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules amending Rule 12 whereunder the Heads of the Depart- ments are enable to impose minor penalties. We will now extract both original Rule 12 and the notification issued in G.O. Ms. No. 185, Personnel E and Administrative Reforms (Personnel -N) Department, dated 17.3.1988 amending the said rule: .. "12. The State Government may impose any of the penalties specified in items (i) and (iii) to (viii) in rule 8 on members of the State Service: F

Provided that if the Governor of Madras is himself the appointing authority for any service or a class or category thereof; he may himself impose any of the said penalties on members of that service, class or category, as the case may be: G Provided further that in the case of the members of the Services SJ?ecified in column (I) the of Appendix IV to these rules, the authority which may impose any of the penalties mentioned in items (i), (iii) so far as it relates to withholding of increments and (v) in rule 8 shall be the authorities specified in the corresponding H

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A entries in columns (2), (3) and (4) thereof."

"NOTIFICATION

In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution of India, the Governor of Tamil Nadu B hereby makes the following amendment to the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, in volume-I of the Tamil Nadu Service Manual, 1977: -

AMENDMENT

c In the said Rules, Rule 12 shall be numbered as sub rule (1) of that rule and after sub-rule (1) as so re-numbered, the following sub-rule shall be added; namely: -

"(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules and in Appendix IV, the Heads of Departments concerned may impose D any of the penalties mentioned in items (i), (iii) in so far as it relates to withholding to increments and (v) in rule 8 on all members of the State Service other than such members who are immediately below such Heads of Departments."

l].,- The punishments that are referred to above are found in Rule 8 E of Madras Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules as under: 11

8. (i) Censure.

(iii) Withholding of increments or promotion, including stoppage F at an efficiency bar.

(v)(a) Recovery from pay of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the State Government or the Central Government or to a local body by negligence or breach of orders, or G (b) Recovery from pay to the extent necessary of the monetary )-- value quivalent to the amount of increments ordered to be with- held, where such an order cannot be given effect to.

(c) Recovery from pay to the extent necessary of the monetary H value equivalent to the amount of reduction to a lower stage in a

REGISTRAR OF CO-OP. SOCIETIES v. F.X. FERNANDO (MOHAN, J.] 965

time-scale ordered where such an order cannot be given effect to. A Explanation- In cases of stoppage of increment with cumulative effect, the monetary value equivalent to three times the amount of increments ordered to be withheld may be recovered.

13Copy pinpoint13. This is not a case in which a Registrar has taken disciplinary action on his own. The Government of Tamil Nadu by G.O. Ms. 371 dated 20.12.1988 directed the appellant to take disciplinary action against the respondent for the following irregularities:

"He appointed candidates for the post of Salesmen to the newly opened fair prices shops of Park Town Co-operative Whole Sale Stores, Madras during 1984-85 directly without being sponsored by the Employment Exchange and thereby violated G.O. Ms. No. 1138, Labour and Employment Department, dated 25.5.1978, and the instructions given by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies in Lr. No. 149614/84 PDS2, dated 26.9.1984. D He had violated departmental it.1structions and purchased con- sumer goods such as rice, tamarind and chillies from traders at higher rates without placing orders through joint purchase com- mittee meetings as prescribed by the Registrar of Co-operative E Societies circulars etc. and thereby conferred undue pecuniary advantages to the private traders."

14Copy pinpoint14. It was on the basis of this G.O., on 20.3.1989 the Registrar issued the charge memo. In this connection, it is worthwhile to refer to a recent decision of this Court reported in AIR {1993) SC 1321 P. V. Srinivasa Sastry F v. Comptroller and Auditor General. The relevant observations at pages 1323-24 are as under:

"....But Art. 311(1) does not say that even the departmental proceeding must be initiated only by the appointing authority. However, it is open to Union of India or a State Government to G make any Rule prescribing that even the proceeding against any delinquent officer shall be initiated by an officer not subordinate to the appointing authority. Any such Rule shall not be inconsistent with Art.. 311 of the Constitution because it will amount to provid- ing an additional safeguard or protection to the holder of a civil H

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A post. But in absence of any such Rule, this right or guarantee does not flow from Art. 311 of the Constitution. It need not be pointed out that initiation of a departmental proceeding per se does not visit the officer concerned 'With any evil consequences, and the framers of the Constitution did not consider it necessary to guaran- tee even that to holders of civil posts under the Union of.India or B under the State Government. At the same time this will not give right to authorities having the same rank as that of the officer against whom proceeding is to be initiated to take a decision whether any such proceeding should be initiated. In absence of a Rule, any superior authority who can be held to be the controlling c authority, can initiate such proceeding.

In the case of State Madhya Pradesh v. Shardul Singh, [1970) 1 sec 108, the departmental enquiry had been initiated against the Sub-Inspector of Police by the Superintendent of Police, who sent his inquiry report to the Inspector-General, who was the appoint- D ing authority. The Inspector-General of Police dismissed the of- ficer concerned from the service of the State Government. That order was challenged on the ground that the initiation of the departmental enquiry by the Superintendent of Police was against the mandate of Art. 311(1) of the Constitution. This contention was accepted by the High Court. But this Court said:

"We are unable to agree with the High Court that the guarantee given under Art. 311(1) includes within itself a further guarantee that the disciplinary proceedings resulting in dismissal or removal of a civil servant should also be initiated and conducted by the authorities mentioned in that Article." .....

Although Art. 311 of the Constitution does not speak as to who shall initiate the disciplinary proceedings but, as already stated above, that can be provided and prescribed by the Rules. But if no Rules have been framed, saying as to who shall initiate the departmental proceedings, then on the basis of Art. 311 of the Constitution it cannot be urged that it is only the appointing authority and no officer subordinate to such authority can initiate the departmental proceeding. In the present case, it was not brought to our notice that any Rule prescribes that the Accountant

REGISTRAR OF CO-OP. SOCIETIES v. F.X. FERNANDO [MOHAN,J.] 967

General, who is the appointing authority, alone could have initiated A a departmental proce.~ding."

15Copy pinpoint15. Then again the finding that there is long delay in initiating of departmental proceedings cannot be supported because in this case the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had not been prompt. Therefore, the appellant cannot be faulted. Accordingly, we set-aside the B order of the Tribunal and direct that the matter be proceeded with from the stage at which it was left. It is a settled principle of law that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done. Therefore, we would direct that another Enquiry Officer be appointed in order to remove any apprehension of bias on the part of respondent. The Civil Appeal will stand allowed with no cost.

- J.B. Appeal allowed.

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