Compulsory Retirement Order Can Be Set Aside If It's Found To Be Punitive & Was Passed To Circumvent Disciplinary Proceedings : Supreme Court
Live LawThe Supreme Court, on Friday, set aside an order passed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, communicating the order of the President, to compulsorily retire a Gazetted Officer who was being considered for appointment as a Member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. Holding the order of compulsory retirement to be unsustainable in law, a Bench comprising Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli noted that the order was punitive in nature and was passed to circumvent the pending disciplinary proceedings against the concerned Officer, to ensure his immediate removal. Considering the allegations raised by the appellant pertaining to institutional bias and malice against the Union Government and in particular the Chairman, CBDT who is a Member of the Review Committee the Court observed - “There is no doubt that rule of law is the very foundation of a well-governed society and the presence of bias or malafides in the system of governance would strike at the very foundation of the values of a regulated social order.” It added - “It has been repeatedly held that any exercise of power that exceeds the parameters prescribed by law or is motivated on account of extraneous or irrelevant factors or is driven by malicious intent or is on the face of it, so patently arbitrary that it cannot withstand judicial scrutiny, must be struck down.” The Court noted that the Chairman was not impleaded as a party before the Tribunal or the High Court and therefore the allegation against them cannot be looked into by the Apex Court. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Service Law - Supreme Court sets aside order of CBDT passed to compulsorily retire a gazetted officer-any exercise of power that exceeds the parameters prescribed by law or is motivated on account of extraneous or irrelevant factors or is driven by malicious intent or is on the face of it, so patently arbitrary that it cannot withstand judicial scrutiny, must be struck down -In such a case, this Court is inclined to pierce the smoke screen and on doing so, we are of the firm view that the order of compulsory retirement in the given facts and circumstances of the case cannot be sustained.
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