1000 TIT BITS ON DISCIPLINE -210
The Daily Order Sheet
827. Immediately on his appointment, the Inquiring authority should open a Daily Order Sheet, which is a running record of all important events during the course of inquiry and the business transacted on each hearing. The daily order sheet should, therefore, contain:
(i) a brief description of all important events in the course of inquiry;
(ii) names of the persons present and the business transacted on each day of hearing;
(iii) a brief statement of any oral and/or written representations by the charged employee and orders passed thereon;
(iv) record of orders passed by the inquiring authority regarding the holding of hearings, their adjournments and other connected matters; and
(v) any other important event which the inquiry officer may consider important enough to mention.
The entries in the daily order sheet are required to be attested by the inquiring authority by putting his dated signatures on each hearing. The presenting officer and the charged employee should also append their dated signatures on it. If the charged officer refuses to sign these entries, the fact will be recorded on the sheet itself by the inquiry officer. Copies of the daily order sheet should be supplied both to the presenting officer and the charged employee.
The daily order sheet is a very important document as it contains the most authentic record of the proceedings of inquiry which, at times, may have to be produced in a court of law where the facts as to what happened during the course of inquiry may be disputed. In Anil Kumar Das v. Supdt. of Post Offices, AIR 1969 Assam 99, the High Court observed that in the absence of the order sheet it was difficult to know whether proper procedure was followed by the inquiry officer at various stages of inquiry. It may be stated here that the Supreme Court has held that if a dispute arises as to what happened during the course of inquiry, the statement of the inquiring authority in that regard shall generally be taken as correct (Union of India v. T.R. Varma, AIR 1957 SC 882).
The entries in the daily order sheet should be recorded by the inquiry officer himself or to his dictation [Chandra Kishore v. J.C. Deb, AIR 1965 Tri. 20). A specimen of the daily order sheet is given in Appdx. I.
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