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Showing contexts for: airlines in G. Gowrishanker vs The Management Of Indian Airlines Rep. ... on 5 April, 2002Matching Fragments
1. By consent, the main writ petition itself is taken up for disposal.
2. In this writ petition the petitioner seeks to issue a writ of declaration, declaring Regulation No. 13 of the Indian Airlines Employees Service Regulations is ultra vires and void as offending Section 23 of the Contract Act and also Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and consequently hold the order of termination Ref.No.MPD/2296 dated 12.10.2001, issued by the second respondent terminating the petitioner from service to be void, illegal and unreasonable.
3. The case of the petitioner is briefly stated hereunder: At the time of passing of the order of termination, the petitioner was the Senior Security Assistant of Indian Airlines. He had been in service of the Corporation for 21 years. He was placed under suspension on 28.04.2000. The said order of termination was based on a criminal case initiated by the Chennai Customs Department, due to which he was under custody from 25.04.2000. The allegation against him was that 48 gold bars with foreign markings were recovered from him on 25.04.2000, when searched by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department. The petitioner is totally innocent. The confessional statement was forcibly obtained from him and the same was retracted on 02.05.2000 through his Advocate. He was detained under COFEPOSA and this Court allowed his H.C.P.No.2024 of 2000 on 08.01.2001. Instead of conducting enquiry etc., the respondents resorted to the impugned Regulation 13, which is unsustainable in law.
5. It is further stated that the petitioner was on duty at Chennai Air Port on the intervening night of 24th / 25th April, 2000 and he was apprehended by the Customs Authorities and a Rexene cover adhesive packet containing 48 numbers of gold bars with foreign marking weighing 10 tollas each, totally weighing 5596.8 grams valued at Rs.21,67,473 (I.V.) and Rs.24,71,547.00 (M.V.) was recovered from his person. He also made a statement to the Customs Authorities on the same date admitting that he was asked by an outsider by name Kadar Mohammed to collect the aforesaid packet containing gold bars kept below the wash basin in the toilet located in the immigration area of the Arrival hall of the Airport after the arrivals and departures of Singapore and Malaysian Airlines aircraft without the knowledge of the customs officials and hand over the same outside the Airport for monetary consideration, to which he agreed to. He was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 25.04.2000 and subsequently he was detained under COFEPOSA. Since the petitioner was arrested and remanded to custody and subsequently he could not report for duty, accordingly he was placed under deemed suspension. The petitioner was involved in an act which makes him untrustworthy and unsuitable for continued employment in the first respondent Company and detrimental to the interests of the Company. Considering the nature of duties performed by the petitioner, the petitioner will have unrestricted access to the Airport and to the Aircraft, which makes his continuance in service a grave security risk in the context of the present high risk security scenario affecting civil aviation and detrimental to the interest of the first respondent Company. Accordingly, in terms of Service Regulation 13 (a), the Board of Directors at its 58th meeting held on 01.10.2001, decided to terminate the services of the petitioner as his act not only posed a grave security risk making his continuance in service detrimental to the interests of the first respondent Company, more particularly in the context of high security environment in civil aviation sector but also the petitioner has become untrustworthy and unsuitable for continued employment and detrimental to the interest of the first respondent Company, his services were terminated with effect from 12.10.2001.
(i) If he / she is, in the opinion of the Corporation (the Board of Directors of Indian Airlines) incompetent and unsuitable for continued employment with the Corporation and such incompetence and unsuitability is such as to make his / her continuance in employment detrimental to the interest of the Corporation;
(OR) If his/ her continuance in employment constitutes, in the opinion of the Corporation (the Board of Directors of Indian Airlines), a grave security risk making his / her continuance in service detrimental to the interests of the Corporation;