Chaitanya Prakash & Anr vs H.Omkarappa

2. The respondent herein was offered an appointment to the post of Executive Director [Marketing] by the Appellant No. 2, namely, M/s. Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company Ltd. by issuing an offer of appointment dated 03.06.1998. The said offer of appointment was accompanied with terms and conditions of appointment, one of which was that the respondent was to undergo probation for a period of one year, which is extendable. Those terms and conditions mentioned in the said offer of appointment are relevant for the purpose of deciding the present case. Few important passages from the aforesaid terms and conditions are extracted hereunder:

3. Pursuant to the aforesaid offer of appointment, the respondent expressed his willingness to join on the said post and consequently joined as Executive Director [Marketing] on 03.09.1998. At the time of joining, the respondent gave a declaration that he would abide by all the rules and regulations of the appellant No. 2 - Company. It is the specific case of the appellants that as the performance of the respondent was not found to be satisfactory during the period of probation his service was not confirmed and his probation was extended by another three months, in terms of Clauses 3.2 and 3.3 of the Service Rules. The aforesaid letter intimating the respondent that his probation had been extended by three months also mentioned that during the extended period of probation of three months he was expected to show concrete results in his performance which had been intimated to him from time to time and that his performance would be reviewed again on 05.10.1999.

5. That there are several letters on record wherein the appellant no. 1 advised the respondent to improve his performance. The appellants prepared a detailed report dated 25.11.1999 regarding his performance which was in the nature of an assessment of the respondent during the period of probation and the same was placed before the Board of Directors of the appellant company in its 225th meeting, which was held on 27.11.1999. The Board of Directors considered the performance and suitability of the respondent on the basis of his entire service records including the Performance and Assessment Report prepared by the office and passed a resolution to the following effect:

6. Consequent upon the said decision of the Board of Directors, the appellant no. 1 issued a letter dated 29.11.1999 to the respondent terminating his services as Executive Director [Marketing] with effect from 29.11.1999.

7. Immediately thereafter, the respondent herein preferred a writ petition in the Madras High Court praying for setting aside and quashing the order dated 29.11.1999 issued by the appellant. Notice having been issued in the said writ petition, the appellants filed a detailed counter affidavit. The Division Bench of the High Court heard the writ petition after completion of pleadings. In the said writ petition it was also brought to the notice of the court that subsequent to the order of termination, the respondent applied for the post of Managing Director of M/s. Spices Trading Corporation Ltd. but he was not called for interview held during the selection process in view of the letter dated 29.02.2000 sent by the appellants bringing to their notice the misconduct of the respondent. The said writ petition was heard by the Division Bench of the High Court of Madras and by the impugned Judgment and Order dated 11.04.2007, the High Court allowed the writ petition holding that the order of termination passed by the appellants against respondent was stigmatic, and therefore, the said order could not have been given effect to without giving an opportunity to the respondent. It was, therefore, directed that the respondent herein would be allowed to continue in his service.

22.In view of the above, we hold that the impugned order is not stigmatic and as such the decision of the High Court is erroneous and vitiated. We accordingly, hereby set aside the same and restore the order dated 29.11.1999 passed by the appellant.

23.As a result, the appeal is allowed. There will be no orders as to costs.