Supreme Court Quarterly Digest 2022- Labour & Service Laws (Jan-March)
Live LawAdministrative Law - Natural Justice - Importance of natural justice and an opportunity of hearing to be afforded to the affected party in any administrative or quasi judicial proceedings. Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta, 2022 LiveLaw 94 Constitution of India, 1950; Article 226 - Appeal against Karnataka High Court judgment which set aside the judgment of the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal directing the compulsory retirement of the respondent employee from service following a disciplinary enquiry on charges of bribery - Allowed - High Court exceeded its jurisdiction under Article 226 and trenched upon a domain which falls within the disciplinary jurisdiction of the employee - The acquittal of the respondent in the course of the criminal trial did not impinge upon the authority of the disciplinary authority or the finding of misconduct in the disciplinary proceeding. Rakesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, 2022 LiveLaw 250 Judicial Service - Appeal against High Court judgment which upheld discharge of a judicial officer - Allowed - Charges filed against the appellant are vague in nature and that absolutely no details have been provided regarding the said allegation of passing the bail order for extraneous considerations/ ulterior motive - Even if appellant's act is considered to be negligent, it cannot be treated as "misconduct" - The appellant be reinstated with all consequential benefits including continuity of service and seniority, but will be entitled to be paid only 50% backwages, which may be paid within a period of four months. Union of India v. Manpreet Singh Poonam, 2022 LiveLaw 254 Promotion - A mere existence of vacancy per se will not create a right in favour of an employee for retrospective promotion when the vacancies in the promotional post is specifically prescribed under the rules, which also mandate the clearance through a selection process - There can never be a parity between two separate sets of rules - A right to promotion and subsequent benefits and seniority would arise only with respect to the rules governing the said promotion, and not a different set of rules which might apply to a promoted post facilitating further promotion which is governed by a different set of rules. Rama Negi v. Union of India, 2022 LiveLaw 236 Promotion - Seniority cum merit - Appeal against High Court judgment that set aside resolution of Cantonment Board in favour of appellant in the matter of promotion to a selection post - Allowed - The unblemished service record of the appellant vis-à-vis the pending disciplinary proceedings against the respondent, were taken into account - The higher pay in the same grade as per the applicable O.M., is a reliable indicator for determining inter-se seniority - All these circumstances in our opinion, weigh in favour of the appellant Rama Negi.