Snatching Away Job Amounts To Taking Away Means Of Livelihood Of Employee; Offends Pith & Substance Of Fundamental Rights: Karnataka HC
The Karnataka High Court remarked that snatching away a job, especially in public employment, virtually amounts to taking away the means of livelihood of an employee.
The Court dismissed an intra-court appeal and held that no employee can be punished through dismissal from service and without the opportunity for a hearing.
The intra-court appeal challenged the decision of the Single Judge of the High Court. In that order, the dismissal from service was set aside and reinstatement was directed.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit observed, “In a society like ours, job more often than not, happens to be predominant source of livelihood and therefore snatching away a job (in public employment), like the one that has happened in the case at hand, virtually amounts to taking away the means of livelihood of the employee.”
Advocate Dr. S. Arumugham represented the petitioners, while AGA Niloufer Akbar appeared for the respondents.
The Court declined the indulge in the matter “being broadly in agreement with the reasoning of the learned Single Judge” and held that “only a criminal case was registered against the Respondent herein and the same has been still pending. That being the position, he could not have been dismissed from service without holding any enquiry.”
The Court explained that when an employee is convicted and sentenced for an offence involving moral turpitude, it is a settled position of law that this alone would not amount to their removal from employment.
Court noted, “Had the Respondent been convicted & sentenced for such an offence and on that ground he was removed from service, the Appellants could have had an arguable case for examination in Appeal. However, that question does not arise in this case.”
The Court concluded that “in the fitness of the facts, we leave it to the Appellants to decide in their discretion on the request for payment of backwages during the period the Respondent has been out of employment”
The High Court dismissed the appeal.
Cause Title: Attikaribettu Grama Panchayath & Anr. v. Sri. Ganesha & Ors. (2024:KHC:1582-DB)
