Sukh Bilash Thakur v. The Bihar State Electricity Board and Others
Background
The appellant was appointed as a Bill Clerk with the Bihar State Electricity Board in 1981 after clearing a written exam and interview, and served without complaint for about 25 years. In 2006, nearly 25 years later, and only after he sought a senior pay grade, the Board issued him a show-cause notice alleging he had secured his original appointment fraudulently by concealing that he lacked the required qualifications, and reverted him to the lower post of Khalasi. The High Court declined to interfere with the reversion, so he appealed to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court found no evidence of fraud or suppression in the original 1981 appointment, noting the appellant had been properly selected through a competitive process and had an unblemished record for a quarter-century. It held that the employer "woke up" only after he sought a promotion, and that reverting him 25 years later was highly unjust, inequitable, and arbitrary. The order of reversion was set aside, and since the appellant had since retired, the Court directed payment of full pensionary benefits as if the reversion had never happened, with 15% interest on dues not paid within eight weeks.
Lesson Learnt
Disciplinary or adverse service action taken after an unreasonably long and unexplained delay, especially one that surfaces only after an employee asserts a service right like promotion, can be struck down by courts as arbitrary, regardless of the underlying allegation's vintage.