Madras High Court directs State Transport Corporation to reinstate conductor terminated from service for having ₹7 in excess

The Madras High Court recently directed the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) to reinstate a bus conductor who was terminated from service in 2015 for having failed to issue a ticket to a woman passenger and for having an excess of ₹7 in the amount collected from passengers..In an order passed on June 23, Justice PB Balaji directed the TNSTC to reinstate the conductor, A Ayyanar and pay him back wages and all other benefits accrued over the period that he remained out of service. The High Court held that the punishment meted out to Ayyanar, the petitioner before the Court, was “grossly disproportionate” to the offence and that it shook the conscience of the Court..“It is really surprising that in respect of such a charge, the respondent has removed the petitioner from service by imposing maximum penalty. It is needless to state that in such cases of charges of be it Rs.7/- or Rs.2/- no malafide or malice can be imputed and the same could have even been the result of inadvertent or unintentional act of the petitioner, which does not warrant penalty in the nature of terminating the petitioner from service. The punishment meted out is grossly disproportionate to the offence and it shakes the conscience of the Court. Moreover, this Court does not appreciate this procedure adopted by the respondent Corporation by referring to earlier concluded proceedings for holding the latest charge against the petitioner. For all these reasons, the Writ Petitioner is entitled to relief from this Court,” the Court said..As per the order, Ayyanar had been working as a conductor with the TNSTC since 2007. In September 2015, he was issued a show cause notice calling for an explanation for a charge that he had allegedly committed in August 2015. In October 2015, another show cause notice was issued asking why he should not be removed from service.He told the Court that on the day of the incident, he had issued tickets to all passengers and that the concerned woman passenger had probably lost her ticket and shifted the blame on him.Ayyanar told the Court that though he had given a detailed explanation, the respondent corporation terminated him from service citing some previous charges against him for which he had already been punished..The TNSTC told the Court that the Ayyanar had caused loss to the corporation and that he had failed to act as a responsible employee. It also submitted that it was justified in looking into the past of the employee.The Court, however, took exception to the manner in which the TNSTC had handled the issue and said that the Ayyanar might have committed an unintentional mistake, but that did not warrant termination from service.The Court, therefore, quashed the order of termination and directed that Ayyanar be reinstated with all benefits due to him, within a period of six weeks..Advocate S Elambharathi appeared for the petitioner Ayyanar. Standing Counsel M Aswim appeared for the respondent State Corporation..[Read order]