SHIVA ANAND v. INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. & ORS

Citation: [2007] 11 S.C.R. 364

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: S.B. SINHA, H.S. BEDI

Case summary

SHIVA ANAND v. INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. & ORS.pdf

Judgment text

-( ~ SHIVA ANAND v. INDIAN AIRLINES LTD. & ORS. OCTOBER 12, 2007 [S. B. SINHA AND HARJIT SINGH BEDI, JJ. ) +. ..... ,, Service Law-Termination-Disciplinary proceedings- Employee producingfake document for obtaining visa-Dismissal- Single Judge of High Court quashed the order, directing his reinstatement-Division Bench ofHigh Court upholding the order of dismissal-On appeal, held: In thefacts ofthe case employee has been rightly punished-However, punishment of dismissal altered to termination in view of his past good career record and high qualification. Appellant, an employee ofrespondent Airlines was charged for ,k having produced a fake certificate from the respondent, for the purpose ofgetting a visa. Enquiry Officer gave his report recommending his dismissal from service. He was punished accordingly by the authority. After some litigation between the parties, appellantfiled a departmental appeal against the order of dismissal which was rejected.

Appellant challenged both the orders in WritPetition. SingleJudge ofHighCourt quashed the order ofdismissal and directed his reinstatement. In writ appeal, Division Bench ofHigh Court upheld the order ofdismissal. Hence the present appeal. ~ Disposingofthe appeal, the Court HELD: 1. The order ofthe Division Bench cannot be interfered with in the light ofthe issues that have been raised and the conduct of the appellant in attempting to produce a fake document along with his application for a visa. [Para 4) [366-F] 2. The proposalofthe appellant in the alternative was that in view 'r ofhis uniformally good career for 27 years with the Indian Airlines and his expertise as a highly qualified master technician in Aircraf~ Engineeringthe orderofdismissal be modified to one oftermination of service so as to enable him to seek employment in some othe~ organization. The proposalwas accepted by the respondent Accordingly the penaltyofdismissal modified to termination ofservice.

Itwas further directed that the sum ofRs. 1,00,000/-which has been deposited in this ~ Court shall be paid to the appellant to defray his expenses. r [Para 5) [366-G, H; 367-A, B] CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 4842 of 2007. From the Judgment and final Order dated 10. 04. 2007 ofthe High, Court of Calcutta in A. P. O. No. 240 of2003 in A. P. O. T. No. 632 of 2002 in G. A. No. 3469 of2002 in W. P. No. 663 of2000. K. V. Vishwanathan,. Suman Jyoti Khaitan and P. S. Sudheer for the __... Appellant. L. N. Rao, Lalit Bhasin, Nina Gupta, Akanksha, Neha Sharma, Swigin and Bina Gupta for the Respondents. The Judgment ofthe Court was delivered by HARJIT SINGH BEDI, J. 1. Leave granted. 2.

This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of the Division Bench ofthe Calcutta High Court whereby it has set aside the Judgment and order ofthe learned Single Judge dated 2nd August 2002 which in tum had quashed the order ofdismissal from service made against the appellant herein and ct,irecting his reinstatement with 50% back wages. In the light ofwhat has beE;p stated by the learned counsel for the parties, we find that a detailed discussion on the matters in controversy would perhaps not be necessary. The bare facts accordingly are being •referred to. 3. Shiva Anand, appellant herein, was an employee of the Indian Airlines and posted at Calcutta Airport. In August 1998 he applied for ~. concessional air ticket for a visit to Delhi and then proceeded to Delhi on 22nd August 1998. On the 28th August 1998 he visited the Australian High Commission in New Delhi and applied for a visa for entry into Australia.

On September 2, 1998 he again visited the Australian High Commission and submitted an employer's certificate allegedly signed by Shri S. K. Basu, Senior Chief Manager ofthe Indian Airlines certifying that he had been granted privilege leave from Septemberl, 1998 to October 30, 1998. It appears that in order to verify the correctness of the certificate t}1e Australian High Commission got in touch with the Indian Airlines on which it was revealed that no such certificate had been issued by Shri S. K. Basu. Disciplinary proceedings were accordingly initiated against the appellant for having produced a fake certificate in the name of Shri S. K. Basu and a charge-sheet dated 28th October 1998 was issued to him. After a detailed enquiry which the appellant repeatedly tried to obstruct, the enquiry officer tendered his report recommending that he be dismissed from service on which the punishing authority passed a final order to that effect.

After some litigation between the parties which even brought the parties to this Court, the appellant filed a departmental appeal against the order ofdismissal from service. The appeal too was rejected by order dated 18th January 2001. Both the orders were impugned before the learned Single Judge and were quashed leading to the filing ofthe appeal before the Division Bench which reversed the same and upheld the order of dismissal. It is in these circumstances that the present appeal has been filed by Shiva Anand. 4. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length. We are not inclined to interfere ·with the order ofthe Division Bench in the -~ light ofthe issues that have been raised and the conduct ofthe appellant in attempting to produce a fake document along with his application for a VlSa. 5. Faced with this situation, the learned counsel for ~e appellant submitted in the alternative that but for one aberration i. e.

the present one, the appellant had a uniformally good career for 27 years with the Indian Airlines and his expertise as a highly qualified master technician in Aircraft Engineering had been fully recognized and as the order ofdismissal had foreclosed all chances offuture employment it was perhaps appropriate that the order ofdismissal be modified to one oftermination ofservice so as to enable him to seek employment in some oth~r organization. Mr. Rao, the learned senior counsel for the respondent, Indian Airlines had sought time to take instructions, and has thereafter informed us that the Indian Airlines were inclined to accept the proposal so as to make the appellant eligible for future employment. We accordingly modify the penalty ofdismissal to termination ofservice. We further direct that the sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- which has been deposited in this Court shall be paid to the appellant to defray his expenses. 6. The appeal is disposed of in the above terms. K. K. T.

Appeal disposed of.