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Ved Mitter Gill v. U.T. Administration, Chandigarh

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 3194 of 2015)Decided 26 Mar 2015
Civil Appeal No. 3194 of 2015
Justice J.S. Khehar · Justice S.A. Bobde

Background

In January 2004, four under-trial prisoners facing serious charges (including the assassination of a former Punjab Chief Minister) escaped from Chandigarh's Model Jail by digging a 94-foot tunnel. The appellant, then Deputy Superintendent of the jail, along with several other jail staff, was dismissed from service without a departmental inquiry, under the constitutional provision allowing dismissal without inquiry where holding one is not "reasonably practicable." The appellant and others challenged this before the Central Administrative Tribunal and then the High Court, both of which upheld the dismissals; several connected cases were transferred to the Supreme Court to be heard together.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the specific legal requirements for invoking Article 311(2)'s "not reasonably practicable" exception, and held that the authorities had validly satisfied each requirement: a genuine apprehension that witnesses (jail staff junior to the appellant) would not depose freely given the gravity of the escape and the terrorism-related background of the escapees, and written reasons recorded by the competent authority. It rejected the appellant's argument that a co-accused official (a deputationist superintendent) faced a regular inquiry while he did not, holding the two were not similarly placed since the appellant held permanent supervisory authority over the witnesses. The appeal and connected transferred cases were dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

The government can lawfully dismiss a senior official without a formal inquiry, bypassing the usual right to be heard, if it can show in writing that holding an inquiry was genuinely impracticable (for instance, because the official's seniority would intimidate the witnesses needed against him): this is a narrow constitutional exception, not a routine shortcut.

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

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