News Citation : 2026 LN (HC) 30
Ranchi, January 07, 2026 : A single judge of the Jharkhand High Court has set aside a major disciplinary punishment imposed on a Panchayat Secretary, holding that the action violated basic principles of natural justice due to the failure to issue a second show cause notice and supply the enquiry report before imposing the penalty.
The ruling came in W.P.(S) No. 7134 of 2025, filed by Ravi Bhushan Rana, a Panchayat Secretary posted in Indra Panchayat under Churchu Block in Hazaribagh district. Rana had challenged an order dated September 6, 2018, by which two of his increments were stopped with cumulative effect following a departmental proceeding. He also assailed the appellate order passed on May 16, 2025, by the Commissioner, North Chotanagpur Division, which upheld the punishment.
Justice Ananda Sen, while hearing the matter, focused on a narrow but crucial question: whether a second show cause notice along with a copy of the enquiry report had been served on the petitioner before the punishment order was passed. During the proceedings, the Court had specifically directed the State to clarify this aspect. On instructions, the State conceded that no such second show cause notice had been issued to the petitioner prior to the punishment.
The Court observed that stoppage of increments with cumulative effect amounts to a major punishment under service jurisprudence. Rejecting the State’s argument that no prejudice had been caused to the employee, Justice Sen relied on the settled law laid down by the Supreme Court in Managing Director ECIL Hyderabad vs B Karunakar, which mandates that a delinquent employee must be furnished with the enquiry report and given an opportunity to respond before punishment is imposed.
The judgment noted that non-supply of the enquiry report is inherently prejudicial when the disciplinary authority relies on that report to impose a penalty. Without giving the employee a chance to contest the findings of guilt, the disciplinary process stands vitiated.
Accordingly, the High Court quashed the punishment order dated September 6, 2018, as well as the appellate order dated May 16, 2025. At the same time, the Court granted liberty to the authorities to proceed afresh from the stage of furnishing the enquiry report and issuing a second show cause notice, if they so choose. The writ petition was allowed without any order as to costs.
This decision reinforces the mandatory nature of procedural safeguards in departmental proceedings, particularly where major penalties affecting an employee’s career and financial progression are involved.
Case Reference : W.P.(S) No. 7134 of 2025, Ravi Bhushan Rana, Hazaribagh v. State of Jharkhand and Others; counsel for the petitioner was Mr. Ranjan Prasad Ram, Advocate, and for the respondents Mr. Om Prakash Tiwari, G.P.-III.
