Reinstatement of TNSTC staff set aside
Staff Reporter
MADURAI, December 27, 2017 00:00 IST
Furnish individual replies: HC
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside a single bench order for reinstatement of employees of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Kumbakonam), who were terminated from service for allegedly producing bogus certificates at the time of appointment.
Hearing a batch of appeals by the employees, a division bench of Justices M. Venugopal and R. Tharani, however, upheld the single bench order with regard to violation of principles of natural justice which resulted in termination and directed the employees to furnish their individual replies to the enquiry officer within two weeks. It asked the enquiry officer to examine the replies and pass appropriate orders within six weeks.
The single bench had earlier ordered the reinstatement of terminated employees as a stop gap arrangement and simultaneous enquiry proceedings.
The court observed that the employees should extend cooperation to the TNSTC enquiry and they should be allowed to raise factual and legal pleas before the enquiry officer.
Counsel for the employees argued that charge memos were issued to them after a lapse of time. The termination orders were issued after 10 years, by which time the services of drivers had been regularised. Their certificates were also verified.
Counsel for the TNSTC argued that at the time of enquiry the employees did not raise a plea for supply of documents relied on by the management. However, it was only after a second show cause notice was sent that they sought the copies. The employees were terminated from service in accordance with law and the direction to reinstate them as a stop gap arrangement ought not to have been passed, the counsel said.
Staff Reporter
MADURAI, December 27, 2017 00:00 IST
Furnish individual replies: HC
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside a single bench order for reinstatement of employees of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Kumbakonam), who were terminated from service for allegedly producing bogus certificates at the time of appointment.
Hearing a batch of appeals by the employees, a division bench of Justices M. Venugopal and R. Tharani, however, upheld the single bench order with regard to violation of principles of natural justice which resulted in termination and directed the employees to furnish their individual replies to the enquiry officer within two weeks. It asked the enquiry officer to examine the replies and pass appropriate orders within six weeks.
The single bench had earlier ordered the reinstatement of terminated employees as a stop gap arrangement and simultaneous enquiry proceedings.
The court observed that the employees should extend cooperation to the TNSTC enquiry and they should be allowed to raise factual and legal pleas before the enquiry officer.
Counsel for the employees argued that charge memos were issued to them after a lapse of time. The termination orders were issued after 10 years, by which time the services of drivers had been regularised. Their certificates were also verified.
Counsel for the TNSTC argued that at the time of enquiry the employees did not raise a plea for supply of documents relied on by the management. However, it was only after a second show cause notice was sent that they sought the copies. The employees were terminated from service in accordance with law and the direction to reinstate them as a stop gap arrangement ought not to have been passed, the counsel said.
No comments:
Post a Comment