1000 TIT BITS ON DISCIPLINE -209
The Object of Preliminary Hearing
866. The ‘Preliminary hearing' is the very first hearing held by the inquiry officer, in which the inquiry officer summons both the parties to sort out preliminaries so that regular hearing can be held smoothly and without delay. The purpose of the preliminary hearing is, to:
(i) ensure that the charge sheet has been delivered to the employee concerned and that he understands the charges;
(ii) sort out the facts to clearly bring out the issues which are in dispute and to prove which evidence shall have to be adduced by the presenting officer. This exercise, if properly done with the help of the presenting officer and the charged employee, can save a lot of time later. In one case handled by us, the charged officer himself stated that the summoning of 15 prosecution witnesses shall not be necessary because he does not deny what they had already stated in their earlier statements, thus saving a lot of time and expenses to the Government in summoning them and inconvenience to the witnesses.
(iii) arrange for inspection of official records, both mentioned in the charge sheet and those considered to be relevant for his defence, by the charged officer;
(iv) decide relevance of defence witnesses;
(v) summon prosecution and defence witnesses for regular hearing; and
(vi) write to the controlling authority of the defence assistant, if any, to allow him to attend the inquiry proceedings.
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