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K. Samba Moorthy v. Sanjiv Chadha and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 110Decided 27 Jan 2025
Civil Appeal (@ Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 10245 of 2024)
Justice B.R. Gavai · Justice K.V. Viswanathan

Background

The appellant, a Bank of Baroda officer, was hit with a minor penalty (a pay cut) in 2001 after disciplinary proceedings, and his pending promotion result to Manager Scale-III was kept in abeyance and eventually cancelled. In 2017, the High Court found the departmental enquiry biased, the enquiry officer was actually a junior colleague competing with him for the same promotion, and quashed the penalty, ordering "all consequential benefits." The Bank, however, only refunded the reduced salary and never restored the promotion; when the appellant sought contempt action, the High Court's Division Bench held there was no contempt since no court had specifically ordered his promotion.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that "consequential benefits" flowing from quashing a tainted disciplinary penalty must genuinely restore what was lost because of that very penalty, including a promotion that had been kept in abeyance and then cancelled solely because of the enquiry that was later found to be biased. Paying back a token sum of about Rs. 19,446 could not be treated as real compliance. The Court ordered the Bank to grant the appellant promotion to Scale-III retrospectively from 28 July 2001, with all monetary benefits plus 6% annual interest, while leaving a separate, later promotion dispute open for him to pursue if he wishes.

Lesson Learnt

When a court quashes a wrongful disciplinary action and grants "consequential benefits," an employer cannot get away with token compliance: the benefits must actually undo the real, practical harm the wrongful action caused, including lost promotions.

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

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