The Orissa High Court has held that an employee's unauthorized absence from duty cannot automatically amount to misconduct unless the disciplinary authority records a clear finding that the absence was deliberate and wilful. Setting aside the compulsory retirement of a railway employee, the Court ruled that the disciplinary proceedings suffered from a fundamental legal defect and that the punishment imposed was grossly disproportionate to the alleged misconduct.
Background of the Case
The petitioner, Jaya Chandra Mishra, joined the South Eastern Railway in 1984 and later rose through the ranks to become Deputy Station Superintendent. After losing his right leg below the knee in a service-related accident in 1999, he was medically decategorised and posted as Chief Office Superintendent at Sambalpur.
In 2008, he was transferred to Titlagarh, a move he challenged before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Although he initially secured interim protection, the authorities ultimately refused to retain him at Sambalpur.
According to the petitioner, in October 2009 he sought leave to care for his seriously ill mother. He claimed that he first applied for casual leave and later requested leave on average pay, also communicating the request through a telegram. However, the leave was not sanctioned, and the Railway administration treated his absence between October 12 and November 4, 2009, as unauthorized.
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Disciplinary proceedings followed, resulting in his removal from service in 2012. In revision, the penalty was reduced to compulsory retirement. His challenge before the CAT failed in 2021, leading him to approach the High Court.
Court's Observations
A Division Bench of Justice Krishna S. Dixit and Justice Chittaranjan Dash examined whether unauthorized absence, by itself, constituted misconduct.
The Court drew a distinction between absence without sanctioned leave and wilful absence.
Explaining this principle, the Bench observed:
“Merely because leave sought for by an employee is declined or remains unsanctioned, it does not inexorably follow that the employee’s absence thereafter becomes deliberate, contumacious or wilful.”
The Court noted that throughout the disciplinary proceedings, the petitioner's explanation remained consistent—that he had stayed away from duty to look after his seriously ill mother. Yet neither the Inquiry Officer nor the disciplinary authority examined whether this explanation was genuine or recorded any finding that the absence was intentional.
Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Krushnakant B. Parmar v. Union of India, the High Court reiterated that disciplinary authorities must prove wilfulness before treating unauthorized absence as misconduct.
“The disciplinary authority is still required to examine the explanation furnished by the employee and arrive at a definite conclusion as to whether the absence was intentional and without any justifiable cause,” the Bench said.
Punishment Found Disproportionate
The Court also examined whether compulsory retirement was proportionate to the allegations.
It observed that the charge was confined to approximately twenty-two and a half days of unauthorized absence. There were no allegations involving dishonesty, corruption, financial irregularity, moral turpitude, or any act causing loss to the administration.
The Bench further took note of the petitioner's nearly twenty-eight years of service, his permanent disability suffered during employment, and the absence of any comparable past misconduct.
While acknowledging that the petitioner had repeatedly engaged in litigation against the Railway administration and had contributed to prolonging the dispute, the Court held that these factors could not justify such a severe penalty.
“The punishment imposed bears little proportion to the misconduct alleged,”
the Bench observed, adding that it had crossed the line from disciplinary correction into disproportionality.
Decision
Allowing the writ petition, the High Court set aside the CAT's judgment dated October 29, 2021, along with the disciplinary, appellate and revisional orders imposing compulsory retirement.
Instead of remanding the matter, the Court noted that the disciplinary proceedings had begun over sixteen years earlier and that the petitioner had already attained the age of superannuation. It therefore considered a fresh disciplinary exercise unnecessary.
The Court directed the Railway authorities to treat the petitioner as having continued in service until his normal retirement solely for calculating pensionary and retiral benefits. It also awarded him 50% back wages from the date of compulsory retirement until the date of superannuation and directed that all admissible retiral benefits be recalculated and released within sixty days.
Case Details:
Case Title: Jaya Chandra Mishra v. Union of India & Ors.
Case Number: W.P.(C) No. 40736 of 2021
Judge: Justice Krishna S. Dixit and Justice Chittaranjan Dash
Decision Date: 06 July 2026
