In Director General of Police & Ors. vs. Mritunjoy Sarkar the Supreme Court set
aside an order of discharge on the ground of production of a fake list without opportunity
of representation to the petitioner. In this case, there has been delay of over twenty years
in challenging the order of discharge and/or termination. In twenty four years the
petitioners could not get the Bihar Vidyalaya Pariksha Samity to certify that they had
cleared the examination and had been issued genuine certificates.
(5) Director General of Police v. M. Sarkar, (1996) 3 SCR 530 (In this case constables were discharged from service on the ground that they produces a fake list from Employment Exchange without providing opportunity of hearing. Supreme Court approved the order of High Court setting aside discharge order on the ground of denial of opportunity of hearing).
(5) Director General of Police v. M. Sarkar, [1996] 3 SCR 530 (In this case constables were discharged from service on the ground that they produces a fake list from Employment Exchange without providing opportunity of hearing. Supreme Court approved the order of High Court setting aside discharge order on the ground of denial of opportunity of hearing).
(5)Director General of Police v. M. Sarkar, (1996) 3 SCR 530 (In this case constables were discharged from service on the ground that they produces a fake list from Employment Exchange without providing opportunity of hearing. Supreme Court approved the order of High Court setting aside discharge order on the ground of denial of opportunity of hearing).
14. The thrust of the argument on behalf of the applicants is that since the applicants were the confirmed employees and have put in more than about 9 or 10 years of service to the full satisfaction of the departmental authorities, they could not be discharged abruptly form service particularly when earlier a decision was taken to subject them to the disciplinary proceeding for the alleged mis-conduct. The disciplinary enquiry proceedings initiated against the applicants according to Mr. Patwalia were given a complete go-bye and instead a termination order was passed on the bald suggestion of the Commission that the nomination letters on the basis of which the applicants were appointed were not issued by the Commission and that their names did not find place in the result of the concerned examination. Mr. Patwalia made a reference to the decision the Apex Court in the case of Director General of Police and Ors. v. Mrityunjoy Sarkar and Ors., 1996(2) R.S.J. 506. In that case, the order of discharge was passed on the ground that list provided by the Employment Exchange was fake and the names of the discharged employees were fabricated as they did not correspond to the entries in the Employment Exchange. The Apex Court found that it was thus a clear case where the foundation for discharge was production of fake list of persons from Employment Exchange for recruitment as armed reserve constables. If that is accepted, that it would cast stgma on the respondents for future recruitment as they have produced fictitious record to secure employment. The Apex Court held that principles of natural justice require that they should be given a reasonable opportunity of representation in the enquiry to be conducted and appropriate orders with reasons in support thereof need to be passed.
"8. Faced with this situation, learned AGP has submitted before us that even if the termination order is quashed on this ground, the Government should be permitted now to hold an inquiry and in support of her submission, she has cited the decisions in the case of Director General of Police & Ors. v. Mrityunjoy Sarkar and Ors. reported in 1996 (8) SCC 280 and in the case of Union of India and ors. v. M. Bhaskaran, reported in 1995 Supp. (4) SCC 100. As against this, learned Counsel for the appellant has cited before us the decisions in the case of Union of India and ors. v. IS Singh reported in 1994 Supp.
(5) Director General of Police v. M. Sarkar AIR 1997 SC 249 (In this case constables were discharged from service on the ground that they produces a fake list from Employment Exchange without providing opportunity of hearing. Supreme Court approved the order of High Court setting aside discharge order on the ground of denial of opportunity of hearing).
18. Learned Counsel for the petitioner placed reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Director General of Police and Ors. v. Mrityunjoy Sarkar and Ors. in support of his contention that before discharging the services of the petitioner, opportunity was required to be given. A perusal of the said decision shows that the Supreme Court was not dealing with a matter relating to temporary service. It is, therefore, not applicable to the facts of the present case where admittedly the services of the petitioner were purely temporary in nature and could be terminated at any time without notice. In fact, the decisions of the Supreme Court, referred to above, in matters of temporary service are applicable to the facts of this case.