By IANS,
New Delhi: “He appears to be an incorrigible fellow,” said the Delhi High Court while upholding the dismissal of a railway constable from service for travelling without ticket in a train and carrying wine 25 years ago.
The court made its observation while rejecting a petition filed by Raman Bihari Lal, the sacked Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable, April 28.
The division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Suresh Kait said: “Concurring with the report of the inquiry officer and keeping in view the past service record of the petitioner as per which we find that twice earlier the petitioner was inflicted with the penalty of removal from service, one of which was set aside by a court and the other had attained finality. Removal from service is also not a bar to be re-employed.”
“However, the petitioner was appointed afresh as a constable, apart from that, there were five more minor penalties inflicted upon him. He appears to be an incorrigible fellow,” said the judges.
“It is a settled law that past service record can be considered with reference to a penalty to be inflicted for subsequent misconduct,” the court said.
“We dismiss the writ petition but refrain from imposing costs,” it said.
Lal questioned the June 16, 1988, order of his employer by which he was removed from service.
“We conclude on the subject by recording our satisfaction that within the scope of incriminating evidence, sufficient to sustain a charge at a domestic inquiry, available evidence is sufficient,” the bench said.
During a special ticket checking drive July 17, 1986, Lal was found travelling from Delhi to Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh without ticket. He was also found carrying a bottle of wine.
The court accepted the statement of the ticket checking staff that Lal refused to pay railway dues of Rs.156 for travelling in the first class coach.