Civil Writ Petition No. 15807 of 2011 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No. 15807 of 2011 Date of decision : August 26, 2011 Rakesh Sood ....Petitioner versus Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and others ....Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice L.N. Mittal Present : Mr. Ramesh Goyat, Advocate, for the petitioner L.N. Mittal, J. (Oral) Rakesh Sood has filed the instant writ petition to challenge punishment order dated 7.8.2009 (Annexure P/4) passed by respondent no. 4 and upheld by Appellate Authority respondent no. 3 vide order dated 7.4.2010, Annexure P/5 and by respondent no. 2 Revisional Authority vide order dated 3.9.2010, Annexure P/6. By the impugned punishment order penalty of reduction in basic pay by one stage in the time scale of pay has been imposed on the petitioner. Petitioner is working as Assistant with respondent no. 1 Insurance Company. He was charge sheeted vide charge sheet Annexure Civil Writ Petition No. 15807 of 2011 -2- P/1 for the following charge:- “He with malafide intention wrote a claim intimation letter about accident of Vehicle No. PB-10U-8985 (Maruti 800), signed by Harbinder Singh (Identity still unknown), completed claim form Nil and processed the unwarranted claim lodged with the Company by the Insured Smt. Rama Sawhney (identity still unknown) in order to cause financial loss to the company. He by his above act, failed to maintain absolute integrity, devotion to duty and acted dishonestly in a manner unbecoming of a public servant and prejudicial to the interest of the Company thereby violated Rule 3(1)(i)(ii)(iii), 4(1) & (5) of General Insurance (Conduct, Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1975.” Regular departmental inquiry was held into aforesaid charge. Inquiry Officer vide inquiry report Annexure P/3 held the charge to be partially proved by recording following findings:- “From the above findings it is clear that Mr. Rakesh Sood was aware about the identity of the insured. He, with malafide intention had not registered the claim at CBO-I, Patiala and purposely sent the insured representative to R.O. Chandigarh for Claim Intimation and for appointment of Surveyor. The charges in the case of Mr. Rakesh Sood are partially proved to the extent of not disclosing the identity of the insured.” Respondent no. 4 Punishing Authority vide impugned order Annexure P/4 imposed punishment on the petitioner as mentioned Civil Writ Petition No. 15807 of 2011 -3- hereinbefore. Appeal and revision preferred by the petitioner against said punishment order have been dismissed by respondents no. 3 and 2 respectively vide orders Annexures P/5 and P/6. All the said three orders of Disciplinary Authority, Appellate Authority and Revisional Authority have been assailed in the instant writ petition. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioner and perused the case file. Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that the petitioner only wanted to help the insured by filling in his claim form and no financial loss was caused to the Insurance Company and therefore, the impugned orders are unsustainable. The contention cannot be accepted. There is finding by the Inquiry Officer that the petitioner with malafide intention had not registered the claim and had purposely sent the insured's representation to Regional Office, Chandigarh for claim intimation and for appointment of Surveyor and the petitioner did not disclose the identity of the insured. In view of the aforesaid finding of the Inquiry Officer, impugned punishment order was passed by Disciplinary Authority. Consequently, the contention of the petitioner that he was simply helping the customer cannot be accepted because there is finding of malafide intention in the action of the petitioner. This Court would not sit in appeal over the finding of the Inquiry Officer as accepted by Disciplinary Authority and upheld by Appellate and Revisional Authorities. For the reasons aforesaid, I find no merit in the instant writ Civil Writ Petition No. 15807 of 2011 -4- petition which is accordingly dismissed in limine. ( L.N. Mittal ) August 26, 2011 Judge 'dalbir'