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Mahesh Chand vs. Delhi Transport Corporation

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7889Decided 16 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 2399/2007CNR: DLHC010329462007
Justice Amit Mahajan

Background

Mahesh Chand, a DTC conductor since 1983, was accused in 1994 of collecting fares from 11 ticketless passengers without issuing them tickets, and was dismissed after a departmental enquiry. The Labour Court upheld both the enquiry's fairness and the dismissal. He challenged this before the High Court, arguing the enquiry was flawed because his cash was never counted and passenger statements were not properly taken.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that DTC's own internal circulars requiring cash-counting or passenger address recording are merely "rules of prudence," not binding legal requirements, breaching them doesn't automatically void an enquiry unless real unfairness resulted. Surveying several precedents on cash-verification in ticket-fraud cases, it found no rigid rule requiring cash to be counted; guilt can be proved through other credible evidence, such as consistent checking-staff testimony corroborated by the passengers' own signed statements. Since the evidence here was internally consistent and no specific inconsistency was shown, the dismissal was upheld and the petition dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

An employer's failure to follow every one of its own internal administrative circulars does not automatically invalidate a disciplinary enquiry: what matters is whether there was credible evidence and a fair opportunity to defend, not perfect procedural compliance with every departmental instruction.

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