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Pawan Kumar vs. Union of India & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 499Decided 2 May 2022
Civil Appeal No. 3574 of 2022
Ajay Rastogi · Sanjiv Khanna · C.T. Ravikumar as the second judge

Background

The appellant was selected as a Constable in the Railway Protection Force in 2011. After he applied but before he was formally inducted, a criminal case (later found to be false, with the complainant retracting and the appellant honourably acquitted) was registered against him. When he filled out his attestation form in 2014, he answered "No" to questions about whether he had ever been arrested or prosecuted. He was subsequently discharged from service for suppressing this information, and the Delhi High Court upheld his discharge.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court applied the guidelines laid down by a three-judge bench in Avtar Singh vs. Union of India, which require an employer to consider the nature and gravity of the suppressed matter rather than mechanically terminating an employee for any suppression. Here, the criminal case was trivial, had ended in a clean acquittal after the complainant's own retraction, had no element of moral turpitude, and had arisen only after the appellant's original application (not at the outset). The Court found the discharging authority had not applied its mind to these factors or to its own duty under RPF Rule 52 to assess overall suitability, and held the discharge order unsustainable. It quashed the discharge and directed reinstatement with full notional benefits (pay, seniority, etc.), though without back wages for the unserved period.

Lesson Learnt

An employer cannot automatically terminate someone for failing to disclose a prosecution in a verification form: the nature of the offence, whether it ended in a clean acquittal, and the circumstances must all be weighed before such a serious step is taken.

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

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