DEPARTMENTAL INQUIRY – PROCEDURE & PRACTICE

Who can be appointed as the Inquiring Authority.•He may be a Govt. servant, retired Govt. servant or an outsider•Should be impartial•Should not be a witness•Should be senior to the charged officer• Should know the procedure for holding inquiry

Who may be appointed as P.O.• He should either be Govt. servant or a Legal

Practitioner.• He should not be a witness.• He should not be the Investigating Officer.• Retired Govt. Servant cannot be a P.O• Where the case is investigated by the CBI or

Anti Corruption Branch of State Govt. a representative of CBI/ Anti Corruption Branch other than the Investigating Officer should be appointed as a P.O.

Who may be nominated as a defence assistant

• A Govt. servant who is working at the Hdqrs. of the C.O. or where the inquiry is to be held. Should not have more than three cases pending including this case.

• A retired Govt. servant not having more than seven cases pending including this case.

• A Legal Practitioner if P.O. is a legal practitioner otherwise with the permission of the Disciplinary Authority.

Documents to be received by I.O.• Copy of the charge sheet.• Copy of written statement of defence of C.O.

alternatively proof of delivery of charge sheet.• Copies of earlier statements of Listed witnesses• Copy of the order appointing the P.O.• I.O. should issue notice fixing the date of

Preliminary hearing with in 10 days of receipt of the above documents by him.

Documents to be received by P.O.

• Copy of the charge sheet.• Listed documents mentioned in Annexure-III

of the charge sheet.• Copies of earlier statements of listed

witnesses, if any, recorded.• Copy of the Investigation Report, if any.• Copy of the order appointing the I.O.

Procedure for Inquiry

Preliminary Hearing

Regular Hearing

Preliminary Hearing

• Inquiry officer to ask the C.O. Whether he admits or denies the charges.

• If the charges are denied, I.O. passes the following orders:-

• Inspect the listed documents by a specified date.

• C.O. should submit the list of additional documents and defence witnesses by a specified date.

• Nominate a defence assistant, if not nominated till then.

• On the request of C.O., I.O directs P.O. to provide copies of earlier statements of listed witnesses, if any, recorded.

• Postpone the inquiry.• Evidence should not be recorded on the day of

preliminary hearing under any circumstances whatsoever even where Preliminary Hearing is postponed a number of times.

INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS• INSPECTION OF LISTED DOCUMENTS MAY BE

GIVEN BY P.O./I.O. OR ANY OTHER RESPONSIBLE OFFICER.

• INSPECTION INCLUDES TAKING OF EXTRACTS OR MAKING A FULL COPY.

• PHOTOCOPIES MAY BE SUPPLIED, IF POSSIBLE.• APPLIES TO ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS ALSO.

PRECAUTIONS DURING INSPECTION

• NOT TO GIVE ALL DOCUMENTS TO C.O. AT ONE TIME. GIVE ONE BY ONE.

• GIVE INSPECTION IN YOUR IMMEDIATE PRESENCE.

• DO NOT LEAVE THE PLACE WHEN DOCUMENTS ARE WITH THE C.O.

• IF TEMPERING FEARED GIVE INSPECTION UNDER A GLASS COVER.

• NOT TO ALLOW INKPOT AND HOLDER.

Regular Hearing• Intended for recording of evidence.• P.O. to present his case first.• Listed documents to be marked and taken on

record of the inquiry exhibit S-1 etc.• Prosecution witnesses to be examined, cross

examined and re-examined one by one SW/MW/PW-1 and so on

• P.O. to close his case.

• Defence case starts.• C.O. to submit a statement of defence• I.O. to ask C.O. whether he wishes to be his own

witness.• Defence documents to be marked and taken on

record, if not already taken on record exhibit D-1 and so on.

• Defence witnesses to be examined, cross-examined and re-examined one by one as DW-1

• Defence case closed.• General examination of C.O. by the I.O.• P.O. and C.O. to submit written briefs.

PROFORMA OF DEPOSITION• SW-1/DW-1• Deposition of Shri (Give designation & address

of the witness.• Examination-in-Chief by P.O/C.O• Cross Examination by C.O/P.O• Re-Examination by P.O/C.O• Sd/- Inquiry Officer• PO & DA,CO• Witness

How to examine a witness

A witness is examined-in-Chief by the party who calls him. He is cross-examined by the opposite party and re-examined by the party who called him.

Purpose of examination-in chief

• The purpose of examination-in-chief is to enable the witness to tell the Inquiry Officer what he knows about the incident/allegation/charge.

• Leading questions are not permitted save with the permission of the Inquiry Officer.

Purpose of cross-examinationThe purpose of cross-examination is to:-1. Impeach the accuracy, credibility and general

value of the witness.2. Detect and expose discrepancies.3. Elicit suppressed or hidden facts.4. Impeach his character.Leading questions are permitted.

Purpose of re-examination• The purpose of re-examination is:-

1. To clarify any new points that may come up during cross examination.

2. To remove any erroneous impression that may be created by a clever line of cross-examination.

Leading questions are not permitted.

What is a leading question• Any question suggesting the answer, which

the person putting it wishes or expects to receive, is called a leading question. It contains the answer in it.

Example Did you see “A” holding a knife with a black

handle in his right hand when you met him?

Evaluation of evidenceSuspicion, conjecture or surmise cannot take the place of proof.Evidence recorded at the back of charged officer not to be relied upon.Personal knowledge not to be given any weight.Inquiry officer not to be a witness against the charged officer.

Kinds of evidence admissible

• Documentary.• Oral evidence.• Tape recorded evidence.• Hearsay evidence.• Circumstantial evidence.

Principles for evaluation• Proof beyond reasonable doubt not required.• Proof required is preponderance of

probability.• Reliance on personal knowledge-not

permissible.• Evidence recorded to be relied upon.• No arbitrary conclusion or based on mis-

reading of the evidence.

Burden of proof• The onus of proving the charge lies on the

prosecution. It is not for the Charged Officer to prove his innocence, or absolve himself from the charge. If the prosecution fails to prove the charge, the charge will automatically fail.

• Sachidanand Singh V. Union of India,(1989) 10 ATC 565 (Calcutta ).

VALUE OF DOCUMENTARY AND ORAL EVIDENCE

• DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE HAS GREAT VALUE (MATERIAL DOCUMENT)

• MATERIAL WITNESS HAS GREAT VALUE• STATUS OF WITNESS IS NOT MATERIAL• TAPE RECORDED EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE• HEARSAY EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE BUT SHOULD

NOT BE GULLIBLY FOLLOWED

Inquiry report-Guide linesThe report should be based on cast iron logic

(Girdhari Lal Vs. Asst. Collector 1970(2) SCC 530Evidence adduced during the inquiry only to be relied upon. (State of Assam Vs. M.K. Das 1970(SC)SLR 444)I.O. not to use his personal knowledge while writing report.Should give reasons for the findingsNot to contain recommendations on quantum of penalty.I.O. can record findings on an additional charge not included in the charge sheet.Indian Evidence Act and Cr. P. Code are not applicable.Standard of proof is “Preponderance of probability and not proof beyond reasonable doubt. ( U.O.I Vs. Sardar Bahadur, 1972 Lab. I.C. (SC) 627).

Form and content of report• Terms of reference indicating dates and place of

inquiry-Inspection of documents, additional documents, the number of witnesses examined during the inquiry & prosecution/Defence documents marked.

• Summary of articles of charge and statement of imputations.

• Charges which are admitted or dropped.• Any points arising out of inspection of documents

both listed and additional.

• Brief case of the disciplinary authority.• Brief case of the charged officer.• Points for determination.• Analysis of evidence in respect of each point

for determination.• Findings on each charge with reasons.• Signatures of the Inquiry Officer

Records of inquiry to be sent to the Disciplinary Authority.

• Report of Inquiry Officer with spare copies.• Folder containing documents exhibited both

prosecution and defence.• Folder containing depositions of prosecution

and defence witnesses.• Folder containing written statement of

defence & briefs filed by the P.O. & C.O.• Folder containing Daily Order Sheets.• Correspondence file relating to Inquiry.

THANKS