| An error of judgment or mere negligence would not constitute ‘misconduct’ for imposing penalty on an employee as a disciplinary action, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held. "Misconduct arising from ill motive and acts of negligence, errors of judgement, or innocent mistake do not constitute such misconduct," a two-member CAT bench headed by Justice Shanker Raju said in a recent order. Citing various Supreme Court and High Courts decisions, the bench noted that mere negligence would not, per se, constitute misconduct and only if a government servant conducts himself in a way "inconsistent with due and faithful discharge of his duty in service", the act would amount to misconduct. "Every act of negligence is not misconduct unless it is culpable. Though misconduct is not to be defined precisely, it depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case," the bench, also comprising member Chitra Chopra, mentioned from a 1979 apex court decision. It also observed that to attract penalty for the misconduct under the relevant service rules or statute, the act should be willful in character. The bench made the observation on an application by one N L Sikriwal, a dealing assistant with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, who was slapped with a penalty of stoppage of two increments in his salary for a period of two years for alleged misconduct in service. The department had alleged that he was negligent and failed to maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty and acted in a manner that was unbecoming of a government servant. Source: citehr |
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