Disciplinary Proceedings: Pay Commission Recommendation
No.PC-60/CCA/1, dated 15.03.1961
Sub: Recommendation of the Pay Commission (1957-59) regarding disciplinary proceedings.
1. The Pay Commission have made the following recommendations regarding disciplinary proceedings in Chapter II of their report:-
No.(220): All memorials, etc. as well as appeals which come to the Central Government against imposition of major penalties should be disposed of only in consultation with the Public Service Commission.
No.(221) The power to withhold appeals, memorials or petitions, under prescribed circumstances should be exercised by an authority higher than the one which had passed the orders against which the appeal, etc. is made.
No.(222) A disciplinary enquiry should not be conducted by the immediate superior of the employee being proceeded against or by an officer at whose instance the enquiry was initiated.
The Railway Board have carefully examined these recommendations and the conclusions reached are contained in the following paragraphs.
2. The Commission has observed that the information available with them does not at all suggest that disciplinary action is taken in far too many cases or that major penalties are imposed to freely or that appeals and memorials are dealt with perfunctorily. The Board consider that the acceptance of recommendation No.220 would considerably increase the work of the Union Public Service Commission. It may also lead to delays in completing disciplinary cases, which would neither be in the interest of public service nor in that of the individual servant. The Board have decided not to make any change in the existing procedure.
3. The procedure for submission of petitions, memorials, etc., to the President, referred to in Recommendation No.221 is contained in Railway Board’s letter No.E51 RG6-13, dated 04.12.1954 which has also been incorporated as Appendix X-R.I Revised Edition 1959. In these rules and instructions, the power to withhold petitions, etc., has been granted only to higher authorities like Heads of Department or Divisional/ Regional Superintendent. Further, an appeal can be withheld only under prescribed circumstances; the appellant is required to be informed of the fact together with the reasons for withholding it; quarterly return is also sent to the appellate authority giving him a list of appeals withheld by the authority through whom the appeal is submitted. The Railway Board consider that these are sufficient safeguards against unjustified withholding of appeals, petitions, etc., and they have, therefore, decided that these rules and instructions do not require any modification. The authorities dealing with petitions, memorials and appeals are, however, expected to apply these rules and instructions in a liberal spirit and the Board desire that they should ordinarily refrain from withholding any appeal, representation, petition or memorial except in rare cases where the justification for contrary action may be obvious.
4. As regards recommendation No.222, it is obviously desirable that only disinterested officials should be appointed as enquiry officials in department proceedings. There is no bar to the immediate superior of the employee being proceeded against holding an enquiry. However, as a rule, the official who undertakes this task should not be suspected of any bias in such cases; nor, as laid down in Board’s letter No.E(D&A)60 RG6-32, dated 25.01.1961, should an official who has to give evidence at a departmental enquiry be nominated as a member of the enquiry committee or associated with the disposal of the proceedings of that Committee. The Board desire that the authorities concerned should bear this in mind before an enquiry official is appointed in a disciplinary case.
Download Railway Board Circular dated 15.03.1961
Forward reference ⇒ RBE No.