Three-Day Absence During COVID Lockdown Not Justification For Compulsory Retirement; Kerala HC Reinstates Railway Employee With Full Benefits

Three-Day Absence During COVID Lockdown Not Justification For Compulsory Retirement; Kerala HC Reinstates Railway Employee With Full Benefits

Pranav Kumar

26 Mar 2025 12:16 PM

Kerala High Court: A Division Bench comprising Justice Amit Rawal and Justice K.V. Jayakumar set aside the compulsory retirement of a Railway employee. As the only misconduct was unauthorized absence for three days during the pandemic, the court found the punishment to be grossly disproportionate. The court directed his immediate reinstatement with all consequential benefits, and ruled that his absence should be treated as casual leave in accordance with government COVID-related office memorandums.

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Background

Nitheesh K., employed as Technician-III under the Railways, took medical emergency leave from 16th to 18th March 2020 to visit his native place in Kerala. He subsequently requested and was granted leave extension from 19 to 21 March. On 22nd March, the government declared a general curfew to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a nationwide lockdown that continued until 2nd June 2020.

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During the lockdown period, Nitheesh remained at his native place. Eventually, on 31st July, he obtained a travel pass and reported for duty. Upon arrival, he sought regularization of his leave during the period of absence. He cited government circulars regarding the special casual leave considering COVID pandemic. The Railways rejected this request and issued a charge sheet alleging unauthorized absence from March to August 2020. Consequently, Nitheesh was penalised with compulsory retirement.

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He challenged this order before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which found that the punishment of compulsory retirement was disproportionate. The CAT directed the Union to consider imposing a lesser punishment. Consequently, the Railways demoted him to Assistant (Workshop) Grade with pay fixed at Rs.18,000/- for 48 months. Aggrieved, Nitheesh approached the High Court.

Arguments

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Nitheesh argued that the punishment was disproportionate considering the COVID-19 pandemic. He pointed out that the workshop remained closed from 20.03.2020 to 02.06.2020, and his extended leave was only until 21.03.2020. He submitted that not being able to explain three days of absence (22nd to 24th March 2020) could not justify such severe punishment. He also submitted that similarly situated employees were granted exemptions or received lesser punishments for unexplained long absences.

The Union of India argued that unexplained absence of a government employee constitutes serious indiscipline that cannot be pardoned. While conceding that compulsory retirement might not be justified (as per the Tribunal's order), they maintained that the subsequent penalty of reduction in pay grade was appropriate.

Court's Reasoning

Firstly, the Court noted that Nitheesh was on sanctioned leave until 21.03.2020, and there was an undisputed nationwide lockdown beginning on 24.03.2020. The workshop too was closed from 20.03.2020 to 02.06.2020. In these circumstances, the Court found compulsory retirement to be disproportionate and a “wholly unjustified” punishment.

Secondly, the Court observed that the revised punishment amounted to withholding increments with cumulative effect, as it effectively takes away valuable service benefits for almost seven years. The court ruled that this too was disproportionate to the alleged misconduct.

Thirdly, the Court highlighted that Nitheesh had demonstrated his commitment by traveling 400 km during the pandemic to report for duty, after which he was advised to undergo quarantine for 14 days. The Court concluded that there was “hardly any willful absence” on Nitheesh's part that could justify such severe punishment.

Thus, the Court set aside both the compulsory retirement order and the revised punishment order. As per the Office Memorandum dated 28.07.2020, the court directed the Union to treat Nitheesh's unauthorised absence for three days as casual leave. Consequently, the court ordered his reinstatement with all benefits within one month.

Decided on: 25.02.2025

Neutral Citation: 2025:KER:16819 | Nitheesh K. v. Union of India

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Martin G. Thottan and Mr. Varghese John

Counsel for the Respondents: Sri. R.V. Sreejith

'For 20 Yrs He Was Sleeping': Rajasthan High Court Rejects Govt Employee's Plea Against 2002 Penalty Stopping Yearly Increments

'For 20 Yrs He Was Sleeping': Rajasthan High Court Rejects Govt Employee's Plea Against 2002 Penalty Stopping Yearly Increments

Nupur Agrawal

25 Mar 2025 12:15 PM



Dismissing a government employee's plea challenging a penalty which stopped three annual grade increments as well as rejection of appeal and review petitions, the Rajasthan High Court observed that his plea was barred by delay of over two decades.

Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand in his order said,

"It appears that the petitioner was sleeping over the matter for more than two decades and all of sudden, he woke up after twenty years and approached this Court without giving any plausible explanation in the instant writ petition about the aforesaid inordinate delay".

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The petitioner was imposed with the penalty of stoppage of 3 annual grade increments in 2002 under Rule 16 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules. An appeal as well as a review petition were filed against this 2002 order imposing penalty, but these were rejected in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

He then approached the high court in 2024 filing a petition challenging the original order imposing penalty as well as rejection of the appeal and the review petition against that order.

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The Court highlighted the settled position of law by making a reference to many Supreme Court decisions.

In the cases of New Delhi Municipal Council v Pan Singh and Others, as well as State of Uttaranchal and another v Sri Shiv Charan Singh Bhandari and Others it was held that irrespective of there being no period of limitation provided for filing a writ petition under Article 226, ordinarily it should be filed within a reasonable period. It was further held that relief to someone who put forth a stale claim could be refused on account of delay and laches because anyone sleeping over his rights was bound to suffer.

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Similarly, in the case of Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board and Others v T.T.Murali Babu, it was held that,

“The court should bear in mind that it is exercising an extraordinary and equitable jurisdiction. As a constitutional court it has a duty to protect the rights of the citizens but simultaneously it is to keep itself alive to the primary principle that when an aggrieved person, without adequate reason, approaches the court at his own leisure or pleasure, the court would be under legal obligation to scrutinize whether the lis at a belated stage should be entertained or not. Be it noted, delay comes in the way of equity… Delay reflects inactivity and inaction on the part of a litigant “a litigant who has forgotten the basic norms, namely, "procrastination is the greatest thief of time" and second, law does not permit one to sleep and rise like a phoenix.”

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In this background, the high court observed that the petitioner approached the court after a delay of almost 20 years without any satisfactory explanation for laches and delay, and law had already set its face against such indolent litigants.

Accordingly, the petition was dismissed.

Title: Sudershan v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 118

Key GOs missing on govt site, concerns over lack of access

Key GOs missing on govt site, concerns over lack of access 

GOs On Phone Bills & Leaves Uploaded Fast 

Koride.Mahesh@timesofindia.com 21.03.2025

Hyderabad : The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department on March 12 issued two important Government Orders (GOs). One concerning the creation of Future City Development Authority, and the other pertaining to expansion of HMDA jurisdiction. These decisions were made by the Telangana cabinet earlier. However, these two significant GOs could not be found on the state govt’s website, ‘goir.telangana.gov.in’. Similarly, hundreds of GOs issued by various govt departments, such as the guidelines for Indiramma Illu, are also missing from the govt portal. 

However, officials promptly upload GOs relating to the payment of telephone bills, sanctioning of leaves, promotions, and sometimes, GOs involving central schemes and budget allocations. AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi had raised this issue of GOs and Budget Releasing Orders (BROs) in the state assembly a few days ago. 

He questioned how many GOs issued by various govt departments over the past year had been uploaded to the govt website. He even remarked in the assembly, “Don’t run the assembly as Gandhi Bhavan,” after his question was not addressed and was changed. Previously, public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in the Telangana High Court regarding the failure to upload important GOs on the govt website. 

Officials claimed that the practice of not making important GOs publicly available was initiated by the previous BRS govt, and the current Congress govt is continuing it. Now, departments classify the GOs as confidential and internal, before sending them to the officers or departments concerned. Sometimes, the GOs only come to light after several days or weeks when they are eventually reported by media. 

“The central govt uploads all GOs and orders immediately. Even the HC previously commented that when HC orders are uploaded to the website within 24 hours, why is the govt not uploading its orders? This attitude of the govt leads to a lack of transparency in the administration and fosters corruption,” said M Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary of Forum For Good Governance, who filed a PIL on GOs in the HC several years ago. 

He added that the state govt has not even filed a counter in this case. When the BRS was in power, the Dalit Bandhu scheme guidelines and the sanctioning of units to Vasalamarri were not made publicly available, which led to a case being filed in the HC. Interestingly, BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan, who was formerly with Congress, had also filed a PIL concerning the absence of GOs on the govt website, alleging that portal had been shut down a few years ago.

Fearing fraud, Maha stays issuing birth certificates on late requests

Fearing fraud, Maha stays issuing birth certificates on late requests 

Abhilash Botekar & Nisha Nambiar 24.01.2025

Nashik/Pune : Birth and death certificates applied for a year or more past the relevant dates won’t be issued in Maharashtra till the system undergoes a hygiene check, Mahayuti govt has notified amid a row over suspected illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants fraudulently obtaining such documents in parts of the state. Top revenue officials told TOI that the issuance of certificates would be kept on hold for at least six months in all districts. Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya alleged that 4,318 Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in Malegaon, 4,537 in Amravati and more than 15,000 in Akola had been issued birth certificates based on forged documents. 

The state home department has set up a special investigation team to investigate the allegations. The report is expected after six months. A senior official of the Nashik administration said the state govt’s communication to divisional commissioners and district collectors cites several complaints about laws being bypassed to approve de layed applications for birth and death certificates. Until 2023, applications delayed by a year and more required judicial approval. The central govt then amended the law, granting authority to district collectors and sub-divisional officers to approve such applications. The change led to alleged misuse of the system in districts like Malegaon and Amravati, where reports suggest that thousands of fake birth certificates have been issued to Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants. Data from all districts is being collated as part of the probe, officials said. 

Malegaon’s AIMIM MLA Mohammed Khaliq accused BJP’s Somaiya of defaming his constituency since the saffron party lost the Lok Sabha election there. “What were the central and state home ministries, both managed by BJP, doing when these people entered India and the state?” he said. In Pune district, 2,470 delayed birth certificates and 1,488 delayed death certificates have been kept on hold, district administration officials said. Shirur has the maximum number of delayed birth-certificate applications at 680, followed by Velhe