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Director, Valabhbhai Patel Chest Institute vs. C. Ramesh & Ors.

Letters Patent Appeal · 2026:DHC:7768-DBDecided 7 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
LPA 694/2026CNR: DLHC010419012026
Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya · Justice Tejas Karia

Background

An Assistant Registrar at a Delhi University-affiliated chest institute was dismissed from service by the institute's own Governing Body after disciplinary proceedings. He had earlier successfully challenged an identical dismissal, with courts holding that only the University's Executive Council (not the institute's Governing Body) had the power to institute disciplinary proceedings against him under the applicable service rules. Despite this, after a contempt case forced his reinstatement, the institute again terminated him: this time after the Executive Council passed a resolution retroactively claiming the Governing Body had always had disciplinary power since 1955. A Single Judge quashed this second termination too, and the institute appealed.

Decision Breakdown

The Division Bench carefully examined the actual 1955 resolution the institute relied on and found it only empowered the Governing Body to appoint staff: it never granted disciplinary/dismissal powers, and no separate document ever delegated such power from the Executive Council. The 2017 resolution claiming otherwise was, the Court said, based on a "complete misreading" of the 1955 resolution. Since the rules in force at the time of the employee's appointment (1971 Service Rules) clearly vested disciplinary authority in the Executive Council alone, and no valid delegation to the Governing Body was ever shown, the second termination was equally invalid. The appeal was dismissed, and given that the employee had been dragged through litigation for about 12 years despite his original dismissal being set aside back in 2014, the Court imposed Rs. 50,000/- in costs on the institute.

Lesson Learnt

An employer cannot cure a jurisdictional defect in a disciplinary action simply by passing a fresh resolution asserting it always had the power: the actual documents delegating authority must genuinely support that claim, and courts will scrutinise them closely, especially where an employee has already prevailed on the same point once before.

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