In a major decision, the Rajasthan High Court has ruled that removing a government employee from service without conducting a formal disciplinary inquiry is as serious as awarding capital punishment. The Court held that such termination should not happen without strictly following the due process of law.
This judgment came in the case of Shravan Choudhary v. State of Rajasthan & Ors., where Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur heard a plea filed by a Physical Training Instructor. The petitioner was removed from service based only on a show cause notice. No charge sheet was issued, nor was any departmental inquiry held.
“An order of termination in service law is like a capital punishment and, therefore, it must be passed after holding a proper enquiry to prevent innocent person being punished,” the Court observed.
The instructor was appointed in 2023. In 2024, the State issued a show cause notice, alleging that he had secured the job by fraud. Dissatisfied with his reply, the authorities terminated his service without further investigation or hearing.
The petitioner strongly denied the allegations, claiming that all his documents submitted during the recruitment were genuine. He argued that no process laid down under the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules was followed in his case.
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On the other hand, the State argued that a preliminary inquiry found discrepancies in the documents and that the job was obtained fraudulently. However, the Court noted that this approach was not legally sound.
“In the opinion of this Court, the procedure adopted by the respondents is not correct… Merely, getting the investigation done unilaterally and concluding that the documents are forged without any inquiry is not the right approach,” said the Court.
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The Court also pointed out that in similar cases involving other candidates, the authorities had formed a committee to investigate the issue. Those candidates were not terminated, but in this case, the petitioner was removed without equal treatment.
“This amounts to discrimination, as similar matters were handled differently by the authorities,” the Court highlighted.
Noting the violation of principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, the Court quashed the termination order. It directed the State to reinstate the petitioner to his position.
