By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi High Court has rejected a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus conductor’s plea challenging his dismissal for pocketing Rs.24 collected as fare from two passengers.
Justice Kailash Gambhir said: “No leniency or sympathy can be shown to a person who indulges in corruption even at a small level and, by all means, corruption has to be checked and nipped in the bud.”
“The conductor on duty can only indulge in corruption at a small level and one cannot expect him to misappropriate an amount of thousands and lakhs of rupees as his job is to issue tickets and non-issuance of the same can only result in pocketing small amounts on daily basis,” the court said.
“By that process alone, his daily and monthly earnings sometimes may be more than his official income,” the court added.
The petition was filed by the conductor’s wife Shanti Devi. The DTC employee, who was dismissed in 2000, died in 2005.
Challenging the labour court’s order which upheld her husband’s dismissal in 2000, Devi sought leniency citing her husband’s clean record prior to the December 2000 incident.
The court, in an order last week, said: “The past clean record of the deceased would also be of no help to her as the solitary act of corruption will be sufficient enough to award punishment of dismissal from service.”
In December 2000, the DTC checking staff found that the conductor had collected Rs.12 each from two passengers but they were not issued any ticket. He was dismissed on this ground.