Case: Girish Bhushan Goyal Vs. B.H.E.L

2. The appellant has filed two separate Civil Appeals before this Court. The Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (C) Nos.of 2012 are filed questioning the correctness of the judgment and order dated 20.12.2010 passed in the Writ Petition No. 129 of 2009 (S/B) and order dated 28.6.2011 passed in the Review Application No. 431 of 2011 to the Writ Petition No. 129 of 2009 (S/B), whereas Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No.30877 of 2012 is filed against the judgment dated 22.2.2011 passed in Writ Petition No. 292 of 2009 (S/B) by the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital, urging various facts and legal contentions in justification of his claim.3. Through Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (C)Necessary relevant facts are stated hereunder to appreciate the case of the appellant and also to find out whether the appellant is entitled for the relief as prayed in these appeals.5. The appellant joined the service of thein 1970 and rose to the post of D.G.M. [Deputy General Manager]. He was to retire on 24.3.2009. It is the case of the appellant that four months prior to his retirement, an enquiry was initiated against him. The appellant accepted the charges of negligence on his part and also explained that the negligence was a part of the chain system which included his superiors as well as his subordinates.6. It is further the case of the appellant that it is he who carried out a routine verification of the stock in the month of2008 when he realized that there were some major discrepancies in the stocks ofand milk powder in the canteen which was under his supervision by virtue of beingof the canteen (HR). He therefore carried out a physical store checking and a report was prepared accordingly on 30.8.2008. The appellant thereafter, issued a notice to Sh. B.S. Rana, theof Canteen Store Operation on 10.9.2008. Since there was no reply to the aforesaid notice, the appellant informed the superior authority regarding the matter. A notice was also sent to the suppliers of the tealeaves and milk powder. The suppliers – ‘Gupta &have admitted to the discrepancy in supply. They further admitted that the goods which have not been supplied against the Bill were lying with them and they were ready to supply the deficient material. However, after the conclusion of enquiry and six days prior to the retirement date of the appellant, he was served with the notice of termination.7. It is further the claim of the appellant that his termination, which is based on the findings of the Enquiry Officer, is not sustainable for various reasons. Firstly, the report of the Enquiry Officer nowhere mentions the loss of Rs.35 lakhs caused by the appellant as is blamed against him. Secondly, no charges of embezzlement or misappropriation have been leveled against the appellant either in theor anywhere in the report. Thirdly, the termused in the Enquiry Report has been, without any reason, converted to the termThe High Court vide its judgment dated 20.12.2010 opined that the claim of the appellant of being targeted for being a whistle blower cannot be sustained since he did not raise this issue when enquiry was being held against him. Further, even if it is presumed that the appellant was a whistle blower, the same, according to the High Court, would suggest that the appellant was aware of the people taking advantage of him to cause financial gain at the cost of the employer of the appellant. Despite that, the appellant did not produce anything on record to prove that he was doing something to protect the interest of the employer. Also, regarding the claim made by the appellant that other people against whom the charge of negligence was made were not proceeded against, it was held by the High Court that though initiating simultaneous disciplinary proceedings against other persons involved in the issue may have been possible, the appellant at no time, made any request to any authority to conduct disciplinary proceeding against him along with others.

Court's reasoning:
15. Therefore, in view of the principle laid down by this Court in the above referred case, we are of the opinion that dismissal order served on the appellant just 6 days prior to his retirement date is exorbitant and disproportionate to the gravity of misconduct particularly, because he was not involved in active collusion with the other employees of the Company who were involved in this incident, for causing financial loss to thebut was negligent by an act of omission. We also should not lose sight of the fact that the appellant took steps to retrieve the materials which were due against the Bill from the suppliers which rectified the error. Accordingly, the order of dismissal served on him is liable to be quashed and is accordingly, quashed. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that his negligence has caused financial loss to theTherefore, keeping at par with the punishment awarded to Sh. B.S. Rana on ground of misconduct in terms of demotion to lower grade for 3 years as per letter dated 6.6.2011 from Central Public Information Officer, we award the similar punishment of deduction of one year increment on the appellant as per Rule 23 (b) of the BHEL Conduct Rules since the appellant already reached the age of superannuation when the order of dismissal was served on him. Accordingly, the Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (C)of 2012 are allowed.Answer to point Nos. 2 and 316. Since, we have answered point No. 1 in affirmative while allowing the Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (C)of 2012 and the dismissal order served on the appellant is quashed, the appellant becomes entitled to all the retiral and pensionary benefits under the relevant Rules for which he is statutorily entitled to. Accordingly, the Civil Appeal arising out of SLP (C) No.30877 of 2012 filed by the appellant is also allowed. All the arrears in pension and other retiral benefits should be paid to him with interest at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of application till the date of payment. Since, the appellant was terminated from his service just 6 days prior to his retirement whereby there was no further possibility of any increment, his last one year increment is liable to be deducted from the arrears which he is statutorily entitled to.