INDIAN AIRLINES LTD Vs. R V SAWANT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Indian Airlines Limited is before the Court in a challenge under Article 226 of the Constitution to an order holding that the termination of the services of the First Respondent is null and void and that accordingly he shall be deemed to be in service from 3rd October, 1996 with consequential benefits.

(2.) The First Respondent joined the services of Indian Airlines Corporation which was then a statutory body governed by the provisions of the Air Corporations Act, 1953 on 14th February, 1979 as a Master Technician. The job of a Master Technician is to maintain electrical equipment on board the aircraft of Indian Airlines and to check the equipment under the supervision and control of an Electrical Engineer. The workman was arrested on 9th September, 1996 together with an Engineering Helper by the name of C.S. Kadam upon being intercepted by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department in connection with the removal of contraband gold from an aircraft. Fifty five gold bars each of 10 tolas were alleged to have been recovered from aircraft which had operated on flight IC 591/A from Hyderabad to Sharjah and then to Mumbai and upon the Mumbai-Karachi-Mumbai sector the previous day. It was alleged that both the First Respondent and the co-worker admitted to have removed the contraband goods from the hat-rack above a seat on the aircraft.

(3.) A letter dated 11th September, 1996 was addressed to Indian Airlines Corporation by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs in the Air Intelligence Unit at Mumbai stating that these and other cases of concealment of contraband on board the aircraft have been reported in the press causing irreparable damage to Indian Airlines. The Board of Directors of the Corporation passed a resolution on 3rd October, 1996 considering the Memorandum which was placed before the Board. The Memorandum recorded that the acts attributed to the First Respondent posed a threat to the security of the aircraft and passengers, since the removal of panels, and placing of items in certain portions of the aircraft would in all probability jeopardize the safety of the aircraft and the lives of the passengers. The Memorandum recorded that by the nature of the job such employees had access to the aircraft. It was alleged that the employees had misused the trust placed in them and rendered the functioning of the company vulnerable to misuse and external threats, consequent upon which there was a loss of confidence. The services of the First Respondent and of his coworker were terminated in exercise of powers conferred by Regulation 13 of Indian Airlines' Service Regulations.