LexSURENDRA PRASAD SHUKLA versus THE STATE OF JHARKHAND & ORS.
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[2011) 10 S.C.R. 799 SURENDRA PRASAD SHUKLA v. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND & ORS. (Civil Appeal No. 7548 of 2011) SEPTEMBER 01, 2011 [R.V. RAVEENDRAN AND A.K. PATNAIK, JJ.] A B Service Law - Dismissal - Appellant-Head Constable in State Police - His son along with two others arrested u/s. 392 c /PC for robbing a car - Misconduct alleged against the appellant that he harboured his son in the government quarters occupied by him - Robbed car recovered from the yard in front of the government quarters - Disciplinary authority dismissed appellant from service for misconduct of negligence, indiscipline and conduct unbecoming of a police D personnel - Order ofdismissa/ upheld by the courts below - On appeal, held: No charge against the appellant-employee that he had in any way aided or abetted the offence u/s. 392 /PC or that he knew that his son had robbed the car and yet he did not inform the police - He was guilty of negligence of E not having enquired from his son about the car kept in front of the government quarters occupied by him - Appellant served the government as a Constable/Head Constable for 34 years, and for such long service he earned pension - Punishment of dismissal from service so as to deprive him F of his pension for the service that he had rendered for 34 years is shockingly disproportionate to the negligence proved against him - Thus, the punishment of dismissal from service is modified to compulsory retirement - Penal Code, 1860 - &~ G CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 7548 of 2011. 799 H 800 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011) 10 S.C.R. A From the Judgment & Order dated 9.6.2008 of the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi in LP.A. No. 176 of 2008. Nagendra Rai, Shantanu Sagar, Smarhar Singh, Abhishek Kumar Singh, Gopi Raman, P. Agarwal, Preeti R., T. Mahipal 8 for the Appellant. c Anil K. Jha, Chhaya Kumari Respondents. The Order of the Court was delivered by ORDER A. K. PATNAIK, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. This is an appeal by way of special leave under Article 136 of the Constitution against the order dated 09.06.2008 of D the Division Bench of the Jharkhand High Court in LP.A. No. 176 of 2008 (for short 'the impugned order'). 3. The facts very briefly are that the appellant was recruited as a Constable in the Bihar State Police on 07.08.1971 and he was later on promoted to the post of Head Constable E (Hawaldar). On 04.07.2004, a complaint was lodged in the Muzaffarpur Sadar Police Station that three unknown persons had snatched a car, which was registered as Muzaffarpur Sadar P.S. Case No. 139 of 2004 under Section 392 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'the l.P.C.'). The police recovered the F stolen car on 13.07.2004 from the government quarters occupied by the appellant and arrested the son of the appellant, Raju Shukla @ Rajiv Shukla alongwith two others who were involved in the theft of the car. The appellant was suspended and a memo of charges was served on him on 20.07.2004 G charging him with the misconduct of negligence, indiscipline, conduct unbecoming of a police personnel. It was also alleged that he had harboured the accused Raju Shukla. He was asked to submit his explanation. The appellant submitted his reply on 26.07.2004 to the Superintendent of Police, Purvi Singhbhoom, , H Jamshedpur (for short the 'disciplinary authority') stating inter SURENDRA PRASAD SHUKLA v. STATE OF 801 JHARKHAND & ORS. [A.K. PATNAIK, J.] alia that in the evening of 12.07.2004 he had been to A Tulailadugri T.O.P. for duty and he was patrolling in that area the whole night and that when he returned to his government quarters in the morning around 6:15 a.m. on 13.07.2004, he saw the police of Muzaffarpur Sadar Police Station at his government quarters, who had arrested his son alongwith two B others, and had seized the stolen Matiz car. He also stated in his reply that he did not get any time to question his son and that he had no idea that his son was involved in the crime. The enquiry officer then carried out the enquiry and submitted his report holding the appellant guilty of the charges and the c disciplinary authority after considering enquiry report took the view that in the circumstances it was not reasonable that the appellant should serve the police force and passed an order of dismissal against him. The appellant carried an appeal to the Deputy Inspector General, Singhbhoom, but the appeal was D dismissed. Th
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