Case Law on Conduct rules
6. The government
servants are entitled to form an association and even if the said association
is not recognized by the govt., such an association also has the right to file
writ petitions in respect of any common grievance of the members of the association.
This can happen only by the persuasion of many, by a few officials who take a
leading part. Can such persuasion be characterized as instigation or deceit?
Certainly not. But, that is what exactly has been done by the Disciplinary
Authority in this case. Having considered the facts and circumstances of this
case, I am convinced and I am constrained to hold that the institution of the
Disciplinary Proceedings and the imposition of penalty of dismissal against the
petitioners was a vindictive action by the Disciplinary Authority against the
petitioners, as according to it these two petitioners were instrumental in
filing the writ petitions. It is amazing that the Disciplinary Authority failed
to realize the impropriety of instituting Disciplinary Proceedings against the
petitioners on a charge of the nature set out earlier and spending considerable
public time over it and imposing the penalty of dismissal and that the
appellate authority confirmed the orders.
A.P.S.K.Sangh (Railways) X UOI AIR
1981 SC 98, V.K.Parameswaran X UOI & others (1982) 1 SLJ 516 Karnataka H.C.
7. Senior officers must
exhibit exemplary conduct: Higher the ladder the officer scales in the echelons
of service, greater should be the transparency of integrity, honesty, character
and dedication to duty... The rights - constitutional or statutory-carry with
them corollary duty to maintain efficiency, integrity and dedication to public
service.."
K.Kandaswamy X UOI (1995) 6 SCC 162.
67.
8. Meaning of
'unbecoming conduct': Rule 3 (1) (iii) of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 says that
every government servant shall at all times do nothing unbecoming of a
government servant, does not suffer from any vagueness or indefiniteness and is
not constitutionally invalid on that ground. There cannot be an exhaustive list
of actions which would be unbecoming of a government servant. Instructions
under Rule 3, No. 22 give sufficient guidance in the matter of judging as to
what is unbecoming conduct. Each case will have to be decided on the attendant
circumstances in the context of norms of conduct of usually accepted standards
of morality, decency, decorum and propriety.
Inspecting Asst. Commr. of Income tax
X SK Gupta 80 CWN 74, Mahendra Kr. X UOI and anr. (1984) 1 SLJ 34 (AP).
9. Meaning of
'unbecoming conduct/misconduct': The rules are not exhaustive in relation to
the code of conduct specified in these rules. There exists what is known as an
'unwritten code of conduct which must be observed by every government
servant... It is the duty of the government servant to be loyal, diligent,
faithful and obedient. The liability to respect and the recognition of a
subordinate role on the part of an employee also flows from the nature of the
contract. Thus, disobedience, insubordination and acts subversive of discipline
are the recognized misconducts because these acts are contrary to the
obligations imposed on an employee by the nature of contract itself and can
freely be treated as implied. It is for the employer to consider reasonably
what conduct should be treated as misconduct. No general rule in this behalf
can be laid down.
Agnani X Badridas & others (1969)
1 LLJ 684 (SC).
10. Innocent action on
the part of a person cannot be held as misconduct.
UOI XJ.Ahmed AIR 1979 SC 1022.
No malafide intention and no revenue loss.
Cannot be treated as lack of devotion.
SLJ 1992 (3) 28 S.C
Sir
ReplyDeleteGovt servants are entitled to form an association even the said association not recognised by government.
Please give one example for such an association sir🙏