S S SHARMA Vs. BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question which arises for consideration in the present, writ petition is whether the disciplinary authority was right in declining the request of the petitioner to be represented by a counsel in the disciplinary proceedings. The petitioner admittedly is facing domestic inquiry and under Rule 25 clause (6) of the BHEL CDA Rules 1975, a delinquent employee against whom the disciplinary proceedings have been instituted for imposition of the major penalty is not to be allowed to engage a legal practitioner to represent his case before the Inquiry Authority unless the Presenting Officer appointed by the Disciplinary Authority is a legal practitioner or the Disciplinary Authority having regard to the circumstances of the case permits the engagement of a legal practitioner by the delinquent employee.

(2.) The charges which the petitioner is facing for imposition of major penalty pertain to his having colluded with Deepak Dhawan and Mahesh Sharma while working in corporate office with an intent to make monetary gain for themselves by fraudulent means. Deepak Dhawan made claims for the expenditure purported to have been incurred for official purposes and petitioner bypassing the accounting practices passed these claims and Mahesh Sharma made payments for these claims during the period August1991 to July 1993 to the tune of Rs. 3,14,793.03 IP which was shared by them thereby causing loss to the company. The Articles of Charges are as follows:

(3.) The charges are sought to be proved by relying on voluminous documentary evidence and oral evidence of General Manager, Incharge of Finance, Deputy General Manager(IA) and Deputy General Manager (Vigilance) and a few other witnesses. The petitioner, who himself is a law graduate. has pleaded that he has been suffering from diseases like paralysis, diabetes and hyper tension and thus he would not be able to conduct his defence himself in the disciplinary proceedings. He has also pleaded that despite his best efforts he has not been able to find any competent officer from the BHEL who could defend himself inasmuch as no officer is prepared to come as defence assistant in view of the fact that very high officers of the BHEL are cited as witnesses to prove the case against him.