Write a critical essay on Protection to civil servants against arbitrary dismissal

Questions: Write a critical essay on Protection to civil servants against arbitrary dismissal. [BJS 1986]

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Answer

The Constitution of India through Article 309, 310, and Article 311 protects and safeguards the rights of civil servants in Government service against arbitrary dismissal, removal, and reduction in rank. The provision enshrines the doctrine of pleasure of civil servants.

Article 311 (1) says that no government employee either of an All-India service or a state government shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to the owner that appointed him/her.

Article 311 (2) says that no civil servant shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

The procedure laid down in Article 311 is intended to assure, first, a measure of security of tenure to Government servants, who are covered by the Article, and secondly to provide certain safeguards against arbitrary dismissal or removal of a Government servant or reduction to a lower rank. The SC in Khem Chand v. Union of India [AIR 1958 SC 307] held that the opportunity of being heard means the employee concerned is given an effective opportunity to establish his innocence when the charge sheet is issued to him and for this, he will be allowed to cross-examining the witnesses produced in the support of charge sheet and also for examining the witnesses produced in the support of his defense.

Therefore, the application of the doctrine of pleasure is checked by the principles of natural justice and provisions of Articles 14, 15, and 16. Article 14 prohibits discriminatory and arbitrary termination of service. Article 15 puts a stop to termination on the basis of religion, race, caste, or place of birth.

In Jaswant Singh v. State of Punjab [AIR 1991 SC 385], The Supreme Court has reiterated the proposition that in spite of Art. 311(3) the “finality can certainly be tested in a court of law and interfered with if the action is found to be arbitrary or mala fide or motivated by extraneous consideration or merely a ruse to dispense with the inquiry. Even the President’s satisfaction under Cl. (c) mentioned above, can be examined by the court on such grounds as mala fides or is based wholly on extraneous and/or irrelevant grounds.

In West Bengal Electricity Board v. Desh Bandhu Ghosh, [1985 3 SCC 116] it was held that the service rules providing for termination of services within 3 months notice on either side was arbitrary and thus violative of Article 14.

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