Central Administrative Tribunal - Jabalpur
Kamal Hasle vs M/O Defence on 21 March, 2025
1 OA No.200/914/2014
Reserved
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, JABALPUR BENCH
JABALPUR
Original Application No.200/914/2014
Jabalpur, this Friday, the 21st day of March, 2025
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AKHIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MRS. MALLIKA ARYA, ADMINISTRATIVE MEMBER
Kamal Hasle, S/o Lakhanlal Hasle, aged about 30 years, R/o EWS 785 ,
Housing Board Colony, Old Itarsi, Itarsi District Hoshangabad (M.P.).
-Applicant
(By Advocate - Shri Basant Pandey)
Versus
1. Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, South Block,
New Delhi - 110001.
2. General Manager, Ordnance Factory, Itarsi - 461122, District
Hoshangabad (M.P.) -Respondents
(By Advocate - Smt. Kanak Gaharwar)
(Date of reserving order : 16.01.2025)
ORDER
By Akhil Kumar Srivastava, JM.-
The applicant is challenging the order dated 03.11.2014 (Annexure A-
1) whereby his candidature for appointment to the post of Sweeper has been rejected due to his involvement in the offence registered against him under Page 1 of 5 ANUPAM2025.03.25 10:14:40 MISHRA +05'30' 2 OA No.200/914/2014 Sections 363, 354, 511, 323 and 34 of IPC and further fined under Section 13 of the Gambling Act.
2. The undisputed facts of the case are that the applicant had applied for the post of Sweeper under handicapped quota and after undergoing the examination process, he was selected for the said post. As per existing rules, before offering appointment to the selected person, the character and antecedents of the candidate are required to be verified from civil authority and, accordingly, a blank attestation form was issued to the applicant on 23.04.2014 for filling up the same. In the attestation form, in column No.12, the applicant has mentioned about his prosecution in three different criminal cases. Therefore, the attestation form was sent to the District Magistrate, Hoshangabad for verification of his character and antecedents. The verification report received from the District Magistrate reveals that the applicants was prosecuted under Sections 363, 354, 511, 323, 34 of IPC and further prosecution was made under Section 379 IPC. In both these criminal cases, the applicant was acquitted by the Court of Law. Further, the applicant was also prosecuted under Section 13 of the Gambling Act in which he was fined of Rs.100/- by the Court. The respondents says that the offence registered against the applicant are serious in nature like Page 2 of 5 ANUPAM2025.03.25 10:14:40 MISHRA +05'30' 3 OA No.200/914/2014 kidnapping, assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, voluntarily causing hurt, theft, committing criminal intimidation and doing a particular act in connivance with several persons in furtherance of common intension and also gambling which is a social menace. The applicant was acquitted in two cases on the basis of benefit of doubt. Thus, it was decided not to appoint the applicant, who is having such a criminal background in the vital Defence Production unit.
3. We have considered the rival submission of the parties and gone through the judgment supplied by them.
4. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Avtar Singh vs. Union of India and others, (2016) 8 SCC 471 has reviewed the entire case law on the subject, i.e. the jurisdiction of the employer to adjudge eligibility/suitability in the matter of selection for appointment to a post in the event of suppression of material information or false information in the application form as to conviction, acquittal, arrest or pendency of a criminal case and in the event where the employee has made a declaration truthfully of a concluded criminal trial or where the offence is of trivial nature ultimately resulting into acquittal prior to submission of application for Page 3 of 5 ANUPAM2025.03.25 10:14:40 MISHRA +05'30' 4 OA No.200/914/2014 appointment. In Para 38 of the judgment, the Hon'ble Apex Court has held comprehensively and inclusively various nature of eventualities in the aforesaid context and further explained the extent and scope of jurisdiction of the authority to deal with them while taking a decision for the eligibility/suitability of a candidate for employment to a post. Amongst others, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has cast an obligation upon the employer to consider all relevant facts available as to antecedents, gravity of the offence, degree of involvement, conduct of the candidate and effect on the employment and such other akin facts, thereafter to take a decision thereupon.
5. Whether cancellation of the appointment of applicant on aforesaid facts and circumstances can be said to be justified in the light of judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Avtar Singh (supra), is the sole question to be addressed. No doubt that verification of character and antecedents of an incumbent before appointment to a post is an important criterion to test whether the selected candidate is suitable for that post.
6. The applicant, in the present case, while filling the Attestation Form though disclosed the fact of his prosecution under the aforesaid cases but has not mentioned the fact that he has been fined of Rs.100/- u/s 13 of Page 4 of 5 ANUPAM2025.03.25 10:14:40 MISHRA +05'30' 5 OA No.200/914/2014 Gambling Act. The mandate in column No.12 of the Attestation Form is to disclose the fact that, "have you ever been arrested, prosecuted, kept under detention, or bound down/fined, convicted by a Court of Law of any offence...". Moreover, the offence registered against the applicant involves moral turpitude and even if the applicant has been acquitted in two cases, we cannot compel the respondents to consider the candidature of the applicant. Thus, even if the applicant has made declaration truthfully of a concluded criminal case, the respondents have rightly rejected the candidature of the applicant considering his character and antecedents.
7. For the aforesaid reasons, we do not find any merit in this Original Application and the same is accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs.
(Mallika Arya) (Akhil Kumar Srivastava)
Administrative Member Judicial Member
am/-
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