Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Oct 8: In a deviation from the established practice that punishment given to a person by the disciplinary authority is reversed upon the court absolving the concerned of charges by a court, the high court refused to do so. In this particular case, a constable of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) was exonerated by the sessions court of the charges, but the state high court has refused to annul the order of the disciplinary authority that had dismissed him from service.

The high court observed that when the allegations contained in the criminal case and departmental inquiry against a government servant are different, the punishment awarded to him by the disciplinary authority by way of penal action cannot be quashed.

S S Murkaloti from Belagavi had joined as KSRP constable on May 3, 1993. He served till 2003. In October 2001, he was charged with murder attempt, abetment to murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal collection and supply of country gun and bullets, in a case filed in Belagavi rural police station. He was arrested and then released on bail. He was suspended from service based on this criminal case and an internal inquiry was ordered. The inquiry officer held him guilty based on which he was dismissed from service on October 16, 2003.

Murkaloti questioned this order in Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT). Even as this application was pending, the sessions court absolved him of the criminal charges on April 30, 2005. Even after he brought this to the notice of KAT, it upheld the order dismissing him. Murklaoti then went to the high court against this order.

Advocate for the constable said that the departmental inquiry was about criminal activity and therefore, the action of the disciplinary authority was null and void. The high court observed that being a KSRP constable, Murkaloti belonged to a responsible department who faced the charges of a murder attempt and supplying country gun. The court stated that as the disciplinary authority had completed all processes of inquiry before the sessions court gave its decision, he cannot be reinstated.