B.C. Chaturvedi vs Union Of India And Ors on 1 November, 1995
10. At this stage, we examine the settled legal position on the powers of the Tribunal as to what extent this Tribunal can interfere in the matters of disciplinary proceedings. We note our power is limited. We went through many judgments of Honourable Supreme Court of India in the matters relating to the Inquiry, and orders of the Disciplinary and Appellate Authorities and identified the guiding principles in the subject. Some of the relevant decisions of the Honourable Apex Court referred to by us are viz: B.C. Chaturvedi versus Union of India [1995 (6) SCC 749]; State of Tamil Nadu versus S. Subramanyan, [1996 (7) SCC 509]; State of Tamil Nadu versus K.V. Perumal [1996 (5) SCC 474]; Om Kumar versus Union of India (2001) 2 SCC 386); M.V. Bijlani versus Union of India [2006 SCC - 5-88] ; State of Rajasthan versus Mohd Ayub Naz [2006 SCC-1-589SC] ; Govt. of A.P. versus Nasrullah Khan [2006 STPL (LE) 36733 SC]; Govt. of India Versus George Philip [2007 STPL (LE) 37755 SC]; Union of India Versus S.S. Ahluwalia [2007 SCC (7) 257] ; and Moni Shankar versus Union of India [2008 SCC (3) 484]. The common threads running through these decisions of the Honourable Apex Court are that generally the Tribunal should not interfere with the decision of the executive in the matters of disciplinary proceedings unless those are found to be suffering from certain procedural, legal, statutory improprieties and infirmities. On certain grounds only the Tribunal can closely scrutinize the relevance or irrelevance of facts; available or absence of evidence; proportionality or otherwise of the punishment; compliance or otherwise of the audi alteram partem; compliance or otherwise of the Wednesbury principle, probability of preponderance doctrine and the like. Some of the guiding principles, we kept in our mind while deciding this OA, are as follows:-