Dear friends,
Rule 14 procedure is adapted for awarding major penalties. Major penalties shall be made only after an inquiry is held as far as possible, in accordance with rule 14 and 15. So issue of charge sheet to the delinquent employee is a pre requisite one and subsequently it should be delivered to the delinquent employee .
If all the efforts to deliver the charge sheet to the charged official is failed then the disciplinary authority should record in writing why he considers it is not reasonably practicable to hold an inquiry.
If all the charges are admitted by the charged official no inquiry is needed otherwise the disciplinary authority may itself inquire into the charges or appoint an inquiry authority to find out the truth of charges.
The inquiry officer who is well conversant with procedure and rules is appointed by the disciplinary authority .He should be a unbiased person.
If the charged official is of the opinion about the integrity of the inquiry officer he should file a biased petition against the inquiry officer at the initial stage of inquiry itself.
As soon as the disciplinary authority appoint a inquiry officer in order to enable him to hold inquiry ,the disciplinary authority is required to send the following records to inquiry officer as per sub rule 6 of Rule 14.
1. A copy of the articles of charge and the statement of imputations of misconduct or misbehaviour.
2. A copy of the written statement of defence if any submitted by the govt servant .
3. Copies of the statements of listed witnesses, if any referred to in sub rule 3 of rule 14.
4. Evidence proving the delivery of charge sheet ,statement of imputations of misconduct or misbehaviour, list of documents and list of witnesses to the govt.servant and
5.A copy of the order appointing the presenting officer.
On receipt of appointing order the inquiry officer should send a notice to the charged official and presenting officer fixing a date for preliminary hearing indicating the time and venue. Also the charged official is asked to furnish the name of defence asst. and his designation to appear on his behalf .
During preliminary hearing charged official will be asked as to whether he pleads guilty to any of the articles of charge mentioned in the charge sheet and whether he has any defence to make.
If he pleads guilty of all or any of the charges his plea should be got signed by him and the presenting officer. Inquiry officer should record a finding if guilt if all the charges are admitted by the charged official .If not ,inquiry will be proceeded only in respect of not admitted charges.
A daily order sheet is maintained by the I.O. for recording day to day occurrences .
If the charged official pleads not guilty or accepts charges conditionally the I.O. will record the following orders that the C.O. may for the purpose of preparing his defence to-
1. inspect listed documents within five days which can be extended by another five days at the discretion of I.O.
2. submit a list of witnesses to be examined on his behalf with their particulars and relevant to the case.
Recording of evidence should not be done on the day of preliminary hearing.
After that regular hearing date ,time and venue intimation should be communicated to the C.O., P.O.,and defence assistant with summons to the witnesses to appear before
the I.O.
On the day of regular hearing the P.O. will first be called upon to produce evidence on behalf of disciplinary authority. The documents is marked as exhibit S-1 and exhibit S-2 etc. After that P.O is called upon to produce his witnesses and they will be named as state witness SW-1,SW-2 etc. The witnesses will be examined in chief by the P.O. and then cross examined by C.O. or by his defence asst. and re-examined by P.O.
On closure of prosecution case by the P.O., the I.O. will call upon the C.O. and the same procedure will be followed for the C.O. as done in the case of P.O. The defence documents are marked as exhibit D-1 ,D-2 etc. and defence witnesses are named as DW-1,DW-2 etc. The defence witness will be first examined in chief by defence asst. and then cross examined by P.O. and finally re examined by defence asst.
Finally the P.O.and the C.O. may be permitted to argue their cases on their behalf and to submit written brief if requested.
with loving greetings,
Tenkasi.
30.10.2018 . G.Mariappan.
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