KOCHI: Asking the public who complain about public sector utilities to appear in court would lead to a situation where no one would be interested in filing complaints, says the Kerala High Court.
A division bench comprising of justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and K Harilal further held that punishment imposed on an erring public official in charge of a public utility cannot be quashed for the reason that the complainant was not examined in court.
The court considered a case where a passenger in a KSRTC bus complained against non-returning of balance for Rs 100 by the conductor for a ticket for Rs23. Though KSRTC had dismissed the conductor, R Saji Kumar of Kuttoor in Thiruvalla, from service, an appellate tribunal had reduced the punishment to barring of three increments with cumulative effect. A single bench of the high court had, in June 2012, set aside the punishment imposed on the conductor for non-examination of the complainant, relying on a 1999 Supreme Court decision in Hardwari Lal vs State of UP case.
Reversing the single bench's decision on an appeal filed by KSRTC, the division bench said, "In our view, it would be too farfetched to say that the ultimate victim of the transaction, that is the passenger of a KSRTC bus, was rightly not summoned to support the disciplinary proceedings. We say this because if such a stand is taken, no one would be interested even to put up a complaint when there are such violations in public sector bodies, who deal with public utility services. Non-examination of the passenger in the case in hand was of no consequence at all. We, therefore, do not find any way to sustain the impugned judgment of the learned single judge."
A division bench comprising of justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and K Harilal further held that punishment imposed on an erring public official in charge of a public utility cannot be quashed for the reason that the complainant was not examined in court.
The court considered a case where a passenger in a KSRTC bus complained against non-returning of balance for Rs 100 by the conductor for a ticket for Rs23. Though KSRTC had dismissed the conductor, R Saji Kumar of Kuttoor in Thiruvalla, from service, an appellate tribunal had reduced the punishment to barring of three increments with cumulative effect. A single bench of the high court had, in June 2012, set aside the punishment imposed on the conductor for non-examination of the complainant, relying on a 1999 Supreme Court decision in Hardwari Lal vs State of UP case.
Reversing the single bench's decision on an appeal filed by KSRTC, the division bench said, "In our view, it would be too farfetched to say that the ultimate victim of the transaction, that is the passenger of a KSRTC bus, was rightly not summoned to support the disciplinary proceedings. We say this because if such a stand is taken, no one would be interested even to put up a complaint when there are such violations in public sector bodies, who deal with public utility services. Non-examination of the passenger in the case in hand was of no consequence at all. We, therefore, do not find any way to sustain the impugned judgment of the learned single judge."
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