The Madhya Pradesh High Court has refused to quash disciplinary proceedings initiated against a government employee accused of fraudulently claiming medical reimbursement amounting to ₹9.64 lakh, holding that mere delay in the issuance of a chargesheet does not vitiate proceedings unless prejudice is established.
Considering the public interest, the bench of Justice Ashish Shroti held that “it would not be in the interest of clean and honest administration that the charge-sheet is quashed at this stage merely on the ground of delay.”
The case arose from a writ petition challenging the charge sheet dated December 12, 2024, and March 27, 2019, alleging that the institution of disciplinary proceedings after a decade was arbitrary, mala fide, and hit by Article 20(2) of the Constitution. The petitioner has argued that the issuance of multiple charge sheets amounted to double jeopardy, and unexplained delay had caused serious prejudice and vitiated disciplinary action.
Rejecting these contentions, the Court held that the earlier show cause notice issued in 2016 merely proposed disciplinary action and did not amount to initiation of proceedings, and therefore did not attract the bar of double jeopardy under Article 20(2) of the Constitution.
The Court further noted that while two charge-sheets had been issued on the same allegations, the earlier charge-sheet of 2019 had not culminated in any enquiry and stood effectively dropped, enabling the State to proceed on the subsequent charge-sheet dated December 12, 2024. The allegation of bias was also rejected for want of specific pleadings.
Holding that such serious financial misconduct affects public interest, the Court declined to interfere and permitted the authorities to proceed with the disciplinary enquiry, directing that it be concluded expeditiously.
Appearance:
D.P. Singh, Advocate for the petitioner
K.S. Tomar, Govt. Advocate for the respondents.
