NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court has said that reinstatement in government service cannot flow as a matter of right in the absence of an “honourable acquittal” of a person.
The court recently refused to reinstate an accountant in a public sector entity after he cited his acquittal in a corruption case. Justice V Kameswar Rao observed that the petitioner was let off on a technical ground that the offence could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt and his reinstatement would effectively amount to turning a blind eye towards the employer’s concerns regarding his integrity, honesty and trustworthiness.
The employer’s concern cannot be ignored merely because the petitioner was accorded the benefit of doubt in a criminal case, the high court noted. “he nature of the offence for which the petitioner was proceeded against and the conviction having been set aside only on a technical ground, it must be held that the reinstatement of the petitioner cannot flow as a matter of right,” the court noted.
Justice Rao relied on a Supreme Court decision to note that a mere acquittal in a criminal case was not conclusive of the suitability of a candidate and even if a person is acquitted or discharged, it cannot always be inferred that he was falsely implicated or that he had no criminal antecedents.
The court was hearing the plea of a former accountant of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited, challenging his dismissal from service despite acquittal in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act where he was acquitted from all charges. The plea claimed that apart from reinstatement, he was also entitled to the benefits of the sixth and seventh pay commissions and promotion to the higher rank of senior accountant in the revised pay scale.
