SANJEEB CH. MARAK Vs. STATE OF MEGHALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The marginal delay of about 12 days in preferring the appeal is condoned. The appeal is taken on record.

(2.) The short grievance of the appellant, who has been dismissed from the Meghalaya police service by an order dated January 15, 2016, is that the precondition to dispensing with an inquiry in terms of Article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution was not complied with in the appellant being summarily dismissed from service without being afforded an opportunity to deal with the charges levelled against him.

(3.) Article 311(2) of the Constitution is a safety-net that is provided to every person who is a member of a civil service of the Union or of an all- India service or a civil service of a State or holds a civil post under the Union or a State. It is constitutionally mandated that such a person shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank only upon an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges levelled against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect thereof. The second proviso to the clause, inter alia, mandates that the clause, that is to say Article 311(2) of the Constitution, would not apply in certain situations: