TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (7) TMI 1009
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....w held in the month of November, 2006. After a subsequent medical examination, the appellant, along with others was declared fit and was sent for training. 3. At the time of consideration of the appellant's claim, a Declaration Form in the form of an Affidavit was called for in order to ascertain his conduct and involvement in any criminal or civil case. The appellant submitted the Declaration Form on 10.11.2006 by swearing to an affidavit. 4. In the said affidavit the appellant declared that he has not been convicted by any Court; that no criminal case was registered against him; that no criminal case was pending against him in any Court; that no criminal case was under investigation against him; that he had never been arrested by police in connection with any criminal case; that he was never challaned in any criminal case and that his character was clean and bright. At the end of the declaration, in paragraphs 15-16 he declared that all the information/averments which he made in the affidavit were true and correct and if any information/averment was found to be false or incorrect after his selection on the said post then his selection could be cancelled immediately without givi....
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....s, the said view having been followed consistently, no interference is called for to the order of the High Court impugned in this appeal. 12. While appreciating the respective contentions of the learned counsel for the parties and on perusing the decisions relied upon by the learned counsel for the appellant as well as the decision reported in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Vs. Ram Ratan Yadav (supra), we feel that a detailed analysis is required to be made in order to find out whether the issue calls for further deliberations so as to arrive at an authoritative pronouncement. 13. We have come across the following decisions in which this Court has taken a similar view which has been propounded in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Vs. Ram Ratan Yadav (supra). The said decisions are reported in Union of India & Ors. Vs. M. Bhaskaran - 1995 Supp. (4) SCC 100, Delhi Administration Through its Chief Secretary & Ors. Vs. Sushil Kumar -1996(11) SCC 605, Regional Manager, Bank of Baroda Vs. Presiding Officer, Central Govt. Industrial Tribunal & Another - 1999(2) SCC 247, Secy., Deptt. of Home Secy., A.P. & Ors. Vs. B. Chinnam Naidu - 2005 (2) SCC 746, R. Radhakrishnan Vs. Director General of Po....
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....ted. The Tribunal, therefore, was wholly unjustified in giving the direction for reconsideration of his case. Though he was discharged or acquitted of the criminal offences, the same has nothing to do with the question. What would be relevant is the conduct or character of the candidate to be appointed to a service and not the actual result thereof. If the actual result happened to be in a particular way, the law will take care of the consequences. The consideration relevant to the case is of the antecedents of the candidate. Appointing authority, therefore, has rightly focused this aspect and found it not desirable to appoint him to the service. (Emphasis added) 18. In Union of India & Ors. Vs. M. Bhaskaran (supra), this Court held: "6............Consequently, it has to be held that the respondents were guilty of misrepresentation and fraud perpetrated on the appellant- employer while getting employed in railway service and had snatched such employment which would not have been made available to them if they were not armed with such bogus and forged labourer service cards. xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx It was clearly a case of fraud on the appellant-employer. If once such frau....
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....have been given to him had he not deliberately concealed the fact about the aforesaid prosecution against him for an offence under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, there was no question of awarding him any lesser punishment save and except confirming the order of termination. In this connection, he invited our attention to a decision of this Court in the case of Union of India v. M. Bhaskaran [1995 Supp (4) SCC 100] wherein it has been clearly held that when appointment is procured by a workman on the basis of bogus and forged casual labourer's service card, it would amount to misrepresentation and fraud on the employer and, therefore, it would create no equity in favour of the workman or any estoppel against the employer and for such misconduct, termination would be justified and there was no question of holding any domestic enquiry. 7. There could be no dispute on this settled legal position..............." In this decision, the employee had already completed his probation and, however, having regard to the peculiar facts involved therein, this Court interfered with the order of termination. This Court at the end of the judgment has made it clear that the said order was ren....
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.... may lead to dismissal from service. In the attestation form, the respondent has certified that the information given by him is correct and complete to the best of his knowledge and belief; if he could not understand the contents of column nos. 12 and 13, he could not certify so. Having certified that the information given by him is correct and complete, his version cannot be accepted. The order of termination of services clearly shows that there has been due consideration of various aspects. In this view, the argument of the learned counsel for the respondent that as per para 9 of the memorandum, the termination of service was not automatic, cannot be accepted." (Emphasis added) 21. In Secy. Deptt. Of Home Secy. A.P. & Ors. Vs. B.Chinnam Naidu (supra), this Court held: "7. xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx As is noted in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Case the object of requiring information in various columns like column 12 of the attestation form and declaration thereafter by the candidate is to ascertain and verify the character and antecedents to judge his suitability to enter into or continue in service. When a candidate suppresses material information and/or gives false infor....
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....an Vs. Ram Ratan Yadav(supra) were considered in detail and the preposition of law was laid down as under: "16. Thus an employee on probation can be discharged from service or a prospective employee may be refused employment: i) on the ground of unsatisfactory antecedents and character, disclosed from his conviction in a criminal case, or his involvement in a criminal offence (even if he was acquitted on technical grounds or by giving benefit of doubt) or other conduct (like copying in examination) or rustication or suspension or debarment from college, etc.; and (ii) on the ground of suppression of material information or making false statement in reply to queries relating to prosecution or conviction for a criminal offence (even if he was ultimately acquitted in the criminal case).This ground is distinct from the ground of previous antecedents and character, as it shows a current dubious conduct and absence of character at the time of making the declaration, thereby making him unsuitable for the post." (Emphasis added) 25. In State of West Bengal and Ors. Vs. Sk. Nazrul Islam (supra), this Court held: "3. On 28.09.2007, the respondent was supplied a verification roll for ver....
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....as the interview and before the order of appointment was issued, he voluntarily disclosed the pending criminal case by stating that by inadvertence he omitted to mention the same in the appropriate column and that he was subsequently acquitted. The said criminal case was also noted while granting the relief in favour of the candidate. The ratio laid down in the decision in Delhi Administration Through its Chief Secretary & Ors. Vs. Sushil Kumar (supra) was distinguished by stating that no such corrective measure was initiated by the candidate in Delhi Administration Through its Chief Secretary & Ors. Vs. Sushil Kumar (supra) case. In Commissioner of Police, Delhi & Anr. Vs. Dhaval Singh (supra) decision it was held: "5. That there was an omission on the part of the respondent to give information against the relevant column in the Application Form about the pendency of the criminal case, is not in dispute. The respondent, however, voluntarily conveyed it on 15-11- 1995 to the appellant that he had inadvertently failed to mention in the appropriate column regarding the pendency of the criminal case against him and that his letter may be treated as "information". Despite receipt of ....
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....d from service for furnishing false information in an attestation form, without giving an opportunity to meet the charges against him. (Emphasis added) In the said case, the appellant was appointed much earlier and that while he was in service he was prosecuted for involvement in a criminal case for an offence u/s 148,324/149,326/149 and 506 IPC in which he was acquitted by the Criminal Court on 9.9.2004. The information furnished by him after more than a decade of his employment and the procedure followed while taking a decision in passing the ultimate order, this Court held that the appellant therein was entitled for the relief of reinstatement. 29. In Commissioner of Police and Ors. Vs. Sandeep Kumar(supra), the order of termination was interfered with holding as under: 12. It is true that in the application form the respondent did not mention that he was involved in a criminal case under Sections 325/34 IPC. Probably he did not mention this out of fear that if he did so he would automatically be disqualified. At any event, it was not such a serious offence like murder, dacoity or rape, and hence a more lenient view should be take in the matter." This was also a case where th....
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.... that his selection was irregular and illegal because the appellant had furnished an affidavit stating the facts incorrectly at the time of recruitment. Ultimately the appointing authority was directed to take back the applicant without grant of any back wages. 31. As noted by us, all the above decisions were rendered by a Division Bench of this Court consisting of two-Judges and having bestowed our serious consideration to the issue, we consider that while dealing with such an issue, the Court will have to bear in mind the various cardinal principles before granting any relief to the aggrieved party, namely: (i) Fraudulently obtained orders of appointment could be legitimately treated as voidable at the option of the employer or could be recalled by the employer and in such cases merely because the respondent employee has continued in service for a number of years, on the basis of such fraudulently obtained employment, cannot get any equity in his favour or any estoppel against the employer. (ii) Verification of the character and antecedents is one of the important criteria to test whether the selected candidate is suitable to the post under the State and on account of his ant....