Q: I was employed in the accounts department of a public sector company as an upper division clerk. About a year ago, the company chargesheeted me with false allegations. A departmental enquiry was then held. About a month ago, I received a letter stating that the enquiry officer (EO) had found me guilty of the charges and I was terminated. No copy of the EO?s report was supplied to me. Doesn?t non-supply of the report vitiate the entire enquiry proceedings? Can I approach the appropriate court/ tribunal challenging the company?s action and demand a fresh enquiry?

Hemanta Sen,
Howrah

A: As a general rule of law, before imposing any punishment on an employee pursuant to a departmental enquiry the employer must furnish a copy of the enquiry report to the concerned employee to enable him to make a representation with respect to such report. However, the court/tribunal will not as a matter of course set aside the punishment imposed on the ground of non-supply of the enquiry report. The employee will have to establish that he was prejudiced in some way by reason of such non-supply of report. If you can demonstrate such prejudice, the court/tribunal is likely to quash the order of termination. But even then, it is unlikely that the court/tribunal will order holding of any fresh enquiry proceeding de novo. Rather, the court/ tribunal is most likely to order the continuation of the same enquiry proceeding by your employer after furnishing you with a copy of the enquiry report.

Q: In January this year I was employed on probation for six months by a public limited company. In July, instead of confirming, the company extended the probation period by two months. Thereafter, the company dismissed me alleging that it was not happy with my performance. As per the procedure of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, I requested the state government to refer the dispute to the Industrial Tribunal, but it refused. What is the legal recourse available to me?

Name Withheld

A: In a similar case the Supreme Court has recently held that a civil suit will not be maintainable (see All India Reporter 2004 Supreme Court page 4355). It was held that where the application for reference of disputes under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act has been rejected by the appropriate authority, the aggrieved party should file a writ petition against the concerned authority. You should file a writ petition against the state government in the Calcutta High Court praying for a mandatory order on the government to refer the disputes you have raised to the Industrial Tribunal. If the government?s refusal was arbitrary or on unreasonable grounds, you are likely to succeed. You should definitely not file a civil suit straight away.