VIGILANCE MANUAL VOLUME III - AP Online

644 DECISION - 315
passengers instead of tickets and thereby he defrauded the Railway
Administration, and imposed the penalty of reduction of his pay by
three stages for a period of five years. His appeal was disposed of
by the order, “I do not see reason to change the order.”
The applicant assailed that the order of the disciplinary
authority is vitiated since that authority has assumed the role of
complainant, prosecutor, witness as well as judge. There is also the
plea that a material document was not made available denying him
reasonable opportunity of defending himself. The appellate order
was assailed on the ground that it is a non-speaking order without
adverting to any of the grounds urged in the appeal.
The respondents urged that though the Sr. Divl. Comml.
Supdt. himself is the complainant, he had the right to issue the chargesheet
by virtue of his position as disciplinary authority. In respect of
the non-supply of the document called for, the plea is that the chit on
which the charge was based was returned to the passengers and
hence it could not be made available. The order of the appellate
authority is sought to be supported as having been passed in
accordance with the rules.
The Central Administrative Tribunal, Patna held that the
disciplinary proceedings, the order of the disciplinary authority
imposing the penalty and that of the appellate authority rejecting the
appeal are all vitiated and cannot be sustained.
The memorandum of charges was issued as a result of the
check conducted by the Sr.Divl.Comml.Supdt. in his capacity as the
Sr. Divl. Comml. Supdt. when it is stated that the alleged irregularity
committed by the applicant was detected. Indeed, it is openly admitted
that he was the complainant. Yet by virtue of his authority as
disciplinary authority, he has issued the memorandum of charges
fully knowing that the imputation relates to an incident within his
personal knowledge, unearthed by him and as such he will have to
play the material role in the inquiry. Actually it did happen like that,