COCHIN PORT TRUST Vs. R. KRISHNAMOORTHY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Cochin Port Trust and its Deputy Chairman are the appellants. They are aggrieved by the judgment dated 10.04.2017 rendered by a learned single Judge of this Court in W.P.(C) No.19582 of 2016 whereby the writ petition filed by the first respondent, a Delinquent Officer, was allowed and the extreme punishment of dismissal from service was set aside.

(2.) We have heard Sri. K. Anand, the learned Senior Counsel, in support of the appeal and with his consent, we dispose of this appeal at this stage itself.

(3.) The facts are not in dispute. The first respondent was an employee of the Cochin Port Trust (CPT). A complaint was laid against him that he had physically assaulted one Jose C. Kappan, who was the Deputy Chief Engineer and Deputy Chief Vigilance Officer, causing him bodily injuries. It is alleged that the injured was required to be hospitalised. Upon this, a disciplinary proceedings for major punishment was initiated against the first respondent. As facts found by the learned single Judge, which is not disputed by the learned Senior Counsel, the said person, who was assaulted, was not even produced in the domestic enquiry for his examination. Admittedly and undisputedly, there were named eye witnesses to the occurrence as disclosed by the management witnesses in the enquiry itself and those eye witnesses were not produced. It is not the case of the management that the officer assaulted or the eye witnesses were not available to be produced or that there was any difficulty in producing them. Yet, on evidence of few persons to whom the injured had at sometime disclosed that he had been assaulted by the delinquent, the Enquiry Officer found the delinquent guilty of assaulting Sri. Jose C. Kappan and he was thereafter visited with the extreme punishment of dismissal.