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Amarendra Kumar Pandey vs Union of India & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 724Decided 14 Jul 2022
Civil Appeal Nos. 11473-11474 of 2018
Surya Kant · J.B. Pardiwala · A.M. Khanwilkar · J.B. Pardiwala had changed by the time of the final signed judgment

Background

The appellant joined the Assam Rifles as a Rifleman in 1993 and was discharged from service in 2004 after accumulating four "Red Ink" disciplinary entries, for overstaying leave to care for his ailing mother, visiting an out-of-bounds area, losing his identity card, and playing cards alone. A Single Judge of the Guwahati High Court quashed the discharge order, holding that discharge is not automatic merely because a person has four Red Ink entries and that the authority must exercise discretion and give reasons. On appeal by the Union of India, a Division Bench of the High Court reversed this, holding that the applicable Assam Rifles Act and rules did not require reasons to be recorded in the discharge order itself. The appellant then approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the settled principles of administrative law on when an authority's discretionary, subjective-satisfaction-based decision is open to judicial review, including where there is no evidentiary basis for the finding, where the decision is not reasonably connected to the purpose of the power, or where irrelevant considerations were taken into account. It also referred to later-enacted Assam Rifles Regulations, 2016 (though not directly applicable to this 2004 discharge) which now require reasons to be recorded when discharging a person for red ink entries, showing that such safeguards were later formalized. Rather than deciding the pure legal question of whether reasons were mandatory under the 2004 rules, the Court took a practical, justice-oriented approach: given the relatively minor nature of the misconduct and that the appellant was only about six months short of completing qualifying service for pension, it set aside the discharge order and directed that he be treated as having remained in service until he completed his pensionable qualifying service, with continuity of service and pension benefits, but without back wages.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a statute is silent on requiring reasons in a discharge order, courts can still step in to prevent a harsh or disproportionate outcome, especially where the misconduct was minor and the employee was close to earning pension rights, by moulding relief to serve substantial justice rather than deciding only the technical legal question.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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