https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163171 Non-payment of subsistence allowance during suspension, coupled with refusal of medically supported adjournments, deprived the delinquent employee of a reasonable opportunity to defend and rendered the ex parte disciplinary inquiry violative of natural justice; the inquiry findings were therefore vitiated and the punishment could not stand. Further, where the departmental action and criminal prosecution arose from the same raid and alleged recovery, and the very witnesses were common, the criminal court's acquittal on a categorical finding that no search or recovery was proved made it unjust, unfair, and oppressive to sustain contrary departmental findings; the usual distinction in standard of proof was held inapplicable. The SC allowed the appeal, set aside the HC Division Bench judgment, and restored the Single Judge's order granting relief. en-us Tue, 30 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 19 Dec 2025 16:47:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163171 Non-payment of subsistence allowance during suspension, coupled with refusal of medically supported adjournments, deprived the delinquent employee of a reasonable opportunity to defend and rendered the ex parte disciplinary inquiry violative of natural justice; the inquiry findings were therefore vitiated and the punishment could not stand. Further, where the departmental action and criminal prosecution arose from the same raid and alleged recovery, and the very witnesses were common, the criminal court's acquittal on a categorical finding that no search or recovery was proved made it unjust, unfair, and oppressive to sustain contrary departmental findings; the usual distinction in standard of proof was held inapplicable. The SC allowed the appeal, set aside the HC Division Bench judgment, and restored the Single Judge's order granting relief. Case-Laws Indian Laws Tue, 30 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163171