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A government employee cannot be exempted from disciplinary proceedings merely on grounds that he suffers from a disability: High Court of Delhi

Section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 protects the rights of a person with disability from being discriminated against while working at a Government establishment.  However, this is not suitable as grounds to exempt such a person from disciplinary proceedings. This was held by a two member bench of the High Court of Delhi consisting of Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice Talwant Singh in the case of Lalit Kumar Gupta v North Delhi Municipal Corporation [W.P.(C) 6907/2021 & CM No. 21816-17/2021] on 23rd July 2021.

The petitioner, Lalit Kumar Gupta was employed as an Upper Division Clerk in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. On 3rd September 2012, a First Information Report was registered against him. He was accused of accepting illegal gratification as a motive to favour a person while in his official capacity which is an offence under Section 7/13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. The criminal proceedings eventually culminated in the petitioner’s acquittal and a judgement to that effect was delivered by the concerned Trial Court on 15th December 2018. However on 28th October 2020, a charge memo was served on the petitioner by the disciplinary authority over allegations that he had received illegal gratification of Rs. 50,000 from a businessman for adjuring from sealing his shop.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that failed to explain why there was a delay of around 8 years for the proceedings to be initiated and how the present allegations were any different from those levelled against the petitioner in the FIR filed against him in 2012. The respondent’s counsel countered that firstly that a delay in commencing disciplinary actions cannot be a reason for quashing the same and furthermore that there exists no bar in disciplinary proceedings against an employee even if he has been acquitted in the criminal proceedings by a trial court. The petitioner’s counsel further contended that the tribunal had failed to notice provisions of Section 20(4) of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 which safeguarded the rights of employees with disabilities from being discriminated or harassed by their employers.

The High Court of Delhi noted that “Section 20 of the RPWD Act merely provides that, no person with disability will be discriminated in any matter relating to employment” and that “The aforesaid provision does not bar initiation of disciplinary proceedings against a person with disability, if a case is made out for triggering such proceedings. Therefore, Mr. Shashank’s submission, as regards Section 20(4) of the RPWD Act, as indicated above, is untenable, and is, accordingly, rejected.” However it was concluded “That being said, the delay in initiating criminal proceedings, according to us, needs to be explained by the employer. In this case, the NDMC has failed to furnish an explanation for the delay in initiating the disciplinary proceedings”. For this reason the impugned order was set aside.

Click here for the judgement

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