Gujarat High Court
Ram Kishan Khoiwal vs Cotton Corporation Of India Limited. & 3 on 11 December, 2017
Author: N.V.Anjaria
Bench: N.V.Anjaria
C/SCA/16117/2016 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 16117 of 2016
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RAM KISHAN KHOIWAL....Petitioner(s)
Versus
COTTON CORPORATION OF INDIA LIMITED. & 3....Respondent(s)
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Appearance:
MR DG SHUKLA, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR MEHUL M MEHTA, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 1 - 4
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE N.V.ANJARIA
Date : 11/12/2017
ORAL ORDER
1. Heard learned Advocate Mr. D.G.Shukla for the petitioner and Mr.Mehul Mehta for the respondentCorporation.
2. The petitioner was appointed on the post of Junior Cotton Purchasers, he was on probation. According to the respondents it was detected that during the process of verification of the certificates of the petitioner that he had mentioned wrong experience and that his lack of experience rendered him ineligible to continue on the post. Show Cause Notice dated 01.01.2016 was received stating interalia as under:
"Subsequently during the process of verification of experience, it has been found from M/s. The Himmatnagar Coop. Agri, Produce Proce & Sale Society Ltd, Himmatnagar, Gujarat which has stated that you were working as trainee. No salary was given to you. No evidence provided by the firm which could establish that you were working with the firm. The working as trainee can not be counted as previous work experience and hence it is unreliable and not convincing. You had mentioned in your online application that you were getting salary of Rs.96000 but the firm in verification form stated that you were not paid any salary. Further with Page 1 of 3 HC-NIC Page 1 of 3 Created On Tue Dec 12 00:58:28 IST 2017 C/SCA/16117/2016 ORDER respect to M/s. GRS Enterprise you have not attached any relevant documents and you have only 10 months experience whereas as per the requirement the candidate must have at least one year of experience. Therefore it has become evident that the certificate obtained by you and submitted alongwith the application was false. In as much as you have secured employment by submitting the false experience certificate in the Cotton Corporation of India which is a Government of India undertaking, your action amount to securing employment by fraudulent means."
3. Learned advocate for the petitioner submitted that the order is stigmatic inasmuch as the petitioner was accused of submitting false information and that the order of termination was passed without holding any inquiry. The decision of the Apex Court in Dipti Prakash Banerjee vs. Satyendra Nath Bose Nationaol Centre for Basic Sciences reported in (1999) 3 SCC 60 was pressed into service.
4. Learned advocate for the respondentCorporation submitted that the inquiry was undertaken about experience qualification of the petitioner and the internal inquiry report was also submitted. He further submitted that under The Cotton Corporation of India Ltd., Employees Conduct, Discipline & Appeal Rules, 1975, as per Rule 5(iv), one of the misconduct stipulated is furnishing false information regarding name, age, father's name, qualification etc, at the time of employment or during the course of employment.
5. In view of the above rival submissions the moot question is whether the allegation of misconduct is the foundation of the order of termination or it was merely a motive.
6. Therefore, Rule returnable on 10.04.2018. Learned Advocate Page 2 of 3 HC-NIC Page 2 of 3 Created On Tue Dec 12 00:58:28 IST 2017 C/SCA/16117/2016 ORDER Mr.Mehul Mehta waives service of Rule on behalf of the respondent Corporation.
(N.V.ANJARIA, J.) SINDHU NAIR Page 3 of 3 HC-NIC Page 3 of 3 Created On Tue Dec 12 00:58:28 IST 2017