The Indian Oil Corporation vs Ajit Kumar Singh

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

The Indian Oil Corporation & Ors. … Appellant(s)

Versus

Ajit Kumar Singh & Anr. … Respondent(s)

JUDGMENT

Rajesh Bindal, J.

1. Aggrieved against the order passed by the High Court

of Judicature at Patna in Letters Patent Appeal No. 1593/2015

dated 28.2.2019, the present appeal has been filed. Vide

aforesaid order, the judgment and order of the learned Single

Judge of the High Court dated 25.6.2015 in CWJC No. 2176/2004

was reversed.

Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by

2. The brief facts as available on record are that on SNEHA DAS Date: 2023.05.17 17:13:17 IST Reason:

30.6.2001, tender notice was issued by the Appellant Corporation

Page 1 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

for the job of ‘Repair of Surface Drain and Tank Pad and Tank No.

235, 236 and 237 inside Refinery’ (Barauni Refinery), in which

three bidders participated. Technical bids were opened on

24.8.2001. However, the price bids were not opened on that day

and were kept with the remarks ‘not opened today’ in the table

drawer of K.C. Patel under lock. The keys thereof were available

with him and respondent no.1, Ajit Kumar Singh. Price bids were

opened on 1.10.2001. Form of quotation submitted by each

bidder was signed by K.C. Patel and G.S. Mahto. Entries were

made in the register. While preparing the comparative table on

3.10.2001 K.C. Patel noticed change in the price bid of M/s. B.S.

Jha as compared to the quoted price in the form of quotation,

which was recorded on 1.10.2001. The signatures of K.C. Patel

were missing in the changed form of quotation of price bid of M/s.

B.S. Jha. There was over-writing in the quoted percentage

wherein digit ‘9’ in the figure of ‘9.6’ was over-written as ‘5’. M/s.

B.S. Jha, who was the second lowest bidder (L-2) when the price

bids were opened on 1.10.2001, was found to be the lowest

bidder (L-1). The matter was not reported to the higher

authorities. Efforts were made to trace the original form of

quotation. When it was not found, the matter was brought to the

notice of the higher authorities.

Page 2 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

3. G.S. Mahto confessed that at the instance of M/s. B.S.

Jha along with B.K. Mishra, he replaced the form of quotation/price

bid and destroyed the originals thereof so that the firm comes at

L-1. Inquiry was initiated against them. The envelope containing

the price bid of M/s. Laxmi Singh was also sent to the Central

Forensic Institute, Bureau of Police Research & Development,

Kolkata, vide letter dated 8.4.2002. The report established that

the said envelop had been tampered with by opening and then

resealing. Considering the fact that the envelopes containing bid

were kept in a drawer of which a duplicate key was available with

the respondent no.1, chargesheet was issued to him to explain as

to why departmental proceedings be not initiated against him for

changing the form of quotation/ price bid of M/s. Laxmi Singh to

enable him to be L-1 in the tendering process. Simultaneously,

chargesheet was also issued to K.C. Patel for tampering with the

quotation of price bid of M/s. Laxmi Singh. Since the response to

the show cause notice was found to be unsatisfactory,

departmental proceedings were initiated against the respondent

no.1 and K.C. Patel. In the Inquiry Report, the Inquiry Officer

opined that there was tampering with the bids. It was found that

tampering was done in the case of tender of bidders M/s. Laxmi

Singh and M/s. B.S. Jha. The changed form of quotation of M/s.

Page 3 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

Laxmi Singh contained the original signature of respondent no.1.

The charges were proved. The report was forwarded to the

Disciplinary Authority. Copy was sent to the respondent no.1 to

enable him to make representation. The respondent no.1 filed

representation against the Inquiry Report. After considering the

same, the Disciplinary Authority vide order dated 7.8.2003

imposed major penalty of withholding five annual increments with

cumulative effect, effective from 1.1.2004. To put the record

straight, it is added that K.C. Patel was inflicted punishment of

reduction to a lower grade. The appeal preferred by the

respondent no.1 against the order of punishment was dismissed

on 18.11.2003. Thereafter, the respondent no.1 filed a writ

petition challenging the order of Disciplinary Authority as well as

the Appellate Authority, which was dismissed by the learned

Single Judge. However, in the intra-court appeal, the order of the

Single Judge was reversed and the punishment imposed on the

respondent no.1 was set aside. It is the aforesaid order which is

impugned in the present appeal.

4. The argument raised by the learned counsel for the

appellant was that in the matter of judicial review only scope for

interference by the High Court in the disciplinary proceedings is to

see as to whether the due process was followed during the course

Page 4 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

of inquiry and fair opportunity was given to the employee

concerned. Threadbare evidence could not be examined, that too

in an intra-court appeal, when the order of punishment and the

appellate order were already upheld by the Single Bench of the

High Court. It was a case in which tampering in the price bid was

found to be fully established from the report of Central Forensic

Institute, Bureau of Police Research & Development, Kolkata.

During the period tampering was done, the bid documents were

lying in the joint custody of the respondent no.1 and K.C. Patel.

Most important part was that on the changed form of quotation of

M/s. Laxmi Singh, original signature of respondent no.1 was

found. It was not possible unless he was involved. The order

passed by the Division Bench was to be set aside.

5. On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent

no.1 submitted that the injustice done to the respondent no.1 was

corrected by the Division Bench of the High Court. The appellants

should not have any grievance against that. Merely because the

duplicate key of the drawer in which the bid documents were kept

was with the respondent no.1, he cannot be made liable for any

tampering or replacing of the bids. In fact, he has been made a

scapegoat by the other employees. The respondent no.1 is

already suffering in the process for last more than two decades.

Page 5 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

There is no error in the order passed by the Division Bench of the

High Court. The appeal may be dismissed.

6. The facts of the case leading to the issuance of

chargesheet, initiation of departmental inquiry, the report of the

inquiry officer and the punishment inflicted upon respondent no.1

have already been narrated in the preceding paragraphs. It is not

in dispute that during the course of inquiry, fair opportunity of

hearing was afforded to the respondent no.1 at every stage. This

was even found by the learned Single Judge while dismissing the

writ petition challenging the punishment inflicted upon him. The

judgment passed by the Division Bench of the High Court shows

that matter was dealt with in a manner as if it was the first stage

of the case, namely, the inquiry was being conducted and inquiry

report was being prepared, which is not the scope in judicial

review. The views expressed by this Court on the scope of

judicial review in Deputy General Manager (Appellate Authority)

vs. Ajai Kumar Srivastava1, are extracted below:

“24. It is thus settled that the power of judicial review, of the constitutional courts, is evaluation of the decision-making process and not the merits of the decision itself. It is to ensure fairness in treatment and not to ensure fairness of conclusion. The

1 (2021) 2 SCC 612

Page 6 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

court/tribunal may interfere in the proceedings held against the delinquent if it is, in any manner, inconsistent with the rules of natural justice or in violation of the statutory rules prescribing the mode of enquiry or where the conclusion or finding reached by the disciplinary authority is based on no evidence.

If the conclusion or finding be such as no reasonable person would have ever reached or where the conclusions upon consideration of the evidence reached by the disciplinary authority are perverse or suffer from patent error on the face of record or based on no evidence at all, a writ of certiorari could be issued. To sum up, the scope of judicial review cannot be extended to the examination of correctness or reasonableness of a decision of authority as a matter of fact.

25-27 xx xx xx

28. The constitutional court while exercising its jurisdiction of judicial review under Article 226 or Article 136 of the Constitution would not interfere with the findings of fact arrived at in the departmental enquiry proceedings except in a case of mala fides or perversity i.e. where there is no evidence to support a finding or where a finding is such that no man acting reasonably and with objectivity could have arrived at those findings and so long as there is some evidence to support the

Page 7 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

conclusion arrived at by the departmental authority, the same has to be sustained.”

(emphasis supplied)

Similar view was expressed in the later judgment of this

Court in Ex-Const/Dvr Mukesh Kumar Raigar vs. Union of

India and Ors.2

7. If the facts of the case are examined in the light of the

settled principles of law in scope of judicial review, we find that

the Division Bench of the High Court proceeded to reappreciate

the entire evidence as if conviction in a criminal trial was being

re-examined by the next higher court. The stand taken by the

respondent no.1 was that he was on leave and there was no

question of his tampering with any document. His contention was

that merely because he had the duplicate key of the drawer

where the documents were kept, he cannot be made responsible

for any tampering. However, there was no answer to the finding

recorded by the Inquiry Officer in the Inquiry Report, namely, that

the changed form of quotation of M/s. Laxmi Singh contained

original signature of respondent no.1. The fact that this “Form of

quotation” was changed is not in dispute. When the changed

form of quotation also contained signature of respondent no.1, it

clearly established his involvement in the tampering of document. 2 (2023) SCC Online SC 27

Page 8 of 9 Civil Appeal No. 3663 of 2023

This fact has not even been noticed by the Division Bench of the

High Court.

8. For the reasons mentioned above, the appeal is

allowed. The impugned order dated 28.2.2019 passed by the

Division Bench of the High Court in Letters Patent Appeal No.

1593/2015 is set aside and the order dated 25.6.2015 passed by

the Single Judge in CWJC No. 2176/2004 is restored.

……………… J.

(Abhay S. Oka)

………………, J.

(Rajesh Bindal) New Delhi May 17, 2023

//NR-MB//

Page 9 of 9