Enquiry report supply in disciplinary proceedings is mandatory, but punishment stands unless actual prejudice from non-supply is shown.

Non-furnishing of an enquiry report in disciplinary proceedings does not automatically invalidate punishment where the service rules require supply of the report. The Supreme Court treated the duty to furnish the report as a mandatory procedural safeguard, but held that it is subject to the prejudice test: the delinquent employee must show actual prejudice caused by the omission. On the facts, the employee had received the show-cause notice after the enquiry report and did not establish that the missing report prevented an effective reply or affected the outcome, so the dismissal was not quashed.

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Issues: Whether non-furnishing of the enquiry report to a delinquent government servant, where the service rules themselves require supply of the report, vitiates the order of punishment without proof of prejudice.

Analysis: The Court traced the development of the law on supply of enquiry reports from the earlier statutory and constitutional framework to the decisions in Mohd. Ramzan Khan and ECIL. It held that the right to receive the enquiry report is part of a fair disciplinary process and that the requirement under Rule 55-A of the Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1930 is mandatory in character. However, the Court further held that this requirement is procedural, not one that automatically nullifies the punishment. Applying the prejudice principle, it reasoned that a disciplinary order is not to be set aside merely because the report was not furnished unless the delinquent shows that the omission caused actual prejudice. On the facts, the respondent had received the show-cause notice after the enquiry report and did not demonstrate that absence of the report prevented an effective reply or affected the result.

Conclusion: Non-furnishing of the enquiry report under the statutory rules does not ipso facto vitiate the dismissal order; prejudice must be shown. The dismissal was not liable to be quashed on the facts of this case.

Ratio Decidendi: A mandatory procedural requirement to furnish the enquiry report in disciplinary proceedings is subject to the prejudice test, and non-supply will not invalidate the punishment unless actual prejudice is demonstrated.

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