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Sunil Kumar vs. M/S Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7892Decided 16 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 1075/2017CNR: DLHC010335542017
Justice Amit Mahajan

Background

Sunil Kumar, a DMRC driver, was removed from service in 2009 after being found guilty of three instances of misconduct: misbehaving with a senior officer and driving rashly when questioned about a leave application, unauthorized absence from duty while visiting a nursing home and arguing with a senior official, and failing to comply with an instruction to distribute internal mail (dak) and generally behaving discourteously. His internal departmental appeal and review were both rejected, and an industrial tribunal later upheld his removal after DMRC independently proved the charges with fresh witness testimony (since the original internal inquiry had been found procedurally flawed).

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held that its power to review the tribunal's factual findings is very limited, and it would not re-weigh evidence just because another view was possible. It upheld the tribunal's findings that all three charges of misconduct were proved through credible witness testimony, rejecting the driver's technical objections (such as an attendance register not showing his name, which if anything supported the charge of unauthorized absence). However, the Court excluded from consideration one aspect of the evidence: testimony about a 2010 incident that occurred after his removal, which the tribunal itself had earlier ruled irrelevant but then still referenced. Despite upholding the misconduct findings, the Court found the punishment of outright removal "shockingly disproportionate" given the relatively minor nature of the proven acts and his 8-9 years of otherwise satisfactory service.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a court agrees that workplace misconduct occurred, it can still step in to correct a punishment that is grossly disproportionate to the offence, though since 17 years had passed, the driver was awarded a lump-sum payment of ₹3,00,000 instead of reinstatement, illustrating that with very long delays, courts prefer practical compensation over reversing time.

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