HC fixes one-year cap on disciplinary proceedings, says delay violates Articles 14 and 21

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that all departmental disciplinary proceedings must conclude at the most within a year of initiation, holding that the "court cannot allow the employer to keep the sword of disciplinary action dangling over an employee indefinitely".

- PT News

In all, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar issued seven comprehensive directions to ensure that the process of inquiry, punishment, and appeal was completed within the prescribed time frame. The Bench made it clear that any unexplained or inordinate delay beyond the one-year period would vitiate the proceedings and invite an adverse inference against the disciplinary authority. The ruling came in a case where disciplinary proceedings dragged on for over 13 years. The petitioner, who retired in 2006, was served a charge-sheet in 2009 for an alleged incident dating back to 2002-03. "Curiously, the chargesheet was issued six years after the occurrence of the alleged incident, after the petitioner had retired from service," Justice Brar observed. Observing that delayed proceedings defeated the very object of justice, Justice Brar asserted: "Every employee facing disciplinary action has a legitimate right to have the proceedings concluded expeditiously. Undue prolongation of proceedings often causes mental agony, financial hardship, and social stigma, even before the charges are proven, which is a punishment in itself." Justice Brar added disciplinary proceedings - when delayed - lost their character as an instrument of justice and turned into mechanisms of torment and unwarranted suffering. "When delay taints disciplinary proceedings, they lose their character as an instrument of justice and turn into mechanisms of torment and unwarranted suffering. As such, disciplinary proceedings ought to adhere to established timelines or else it morphs into punishment that does not further the cause of justice." Noting that the punishment order