Nitin Bhardwaj vs General Manager, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. & Others

Lok Pal Singh, J

1) Petitioner has invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by way of filing present writ petition, seeking following reliefs, among others:

(a) Issue a writ of certiorari quashing the impugned termination order dated 24.10.2014, passed by respondent no. 2 (contained as Annexure no. 14 to the writ petition).

(b) Issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to reinstate the petitioner on the post of Artisan Grade IV with all consequential benefits.

2) Brief facts giving rise to present writ petition are that the petitioner passed Adhikari Pariksha, equivalent to High Court, in the year 2005 from Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya Vrindavan, Mathura. Petitioner also passed National Trade Certificate in Welder Trade (Gas and Electric) Examination conducted by the National Council for Vocational Training in the year 2006. He further did his apprentice of one year from 15.10.2007 to 14.10.2008 and was awarded the National Apprenticeship certificate. Thereafter, he was provisionally appointed as temporary Artisan in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (for brevity hereinafter referred to as 'BHEL') on consolidated wages of Rs.5,938/- vide order dated 13.09.2010. Thereafter, his services were regularized on the post of Artisan Grade IV w.e.f. 05.10.2011. Petitioner performed his duty with utmost devotion and to the full satisfaction of his superiors.

3) All of a sudden, petitioner received a show cause notice dated 17.11.2012 issued by respondent no. 3, whereby the petitioner was asked to submit his reply as to why his services be not terminated on the ground that he has furnished forged documents regarding his educational qualification at the time of his appointment in BHEL. Petitioner submitted his reply on 01.12.2012, stating therein that he personally visited Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, but correct information could not be gathered from there. He further submitted that the High School certificate submitted by him is genuine and further requested re-enquiry in the matter. Disciplinary authorities was not satisfied with the reply submitted by the petitioner and appointed Mr. P.K. Garg, Addl. General Manager, BHEL as Enquiry Officer vide order dated 09.02.2013. Enquiry Officer issued notice to the petitioner, who submitted his reply on 23.04.2013, stating therein, that he passed the Adhikari Pariksha from Islamia Inter College, Deoband Centre, conducted by Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura. Petitioner further submitted that he has neither concealed any fact nor submitted any forged document while seeking his appointment on the post of Artisan Grade IV in BHEL. The Enquiry Committee having collected the material, found that the petitioner could not produce any witness or document to show that he passed his Adhikari Pariksha from Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura in the year 2005. It is contended that the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura is under the control of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh having its office on 5 Mira Marg, Lucknow. It is further contended that Acharaya Swadesh, the then, Vice Chancellor of said Vishwa Vidhyalaya has issued letter dated 07.11.2002, stating therein that the petitioner has completed his Adhikari Pariksha from said University and information in this regard has been sent to the petitioner.

4) The petitioner has annexed the photocopy of the marksheet of Adhikari Pariksha (High School) 2005, allegedly issued by the Principal, Islamia Inter College, Deoband (Saharanpur), conducted by Gurukul Vishya Vidhyalaya, Brindavan, Mathura, which was passed by the petitioner appearing as a private candidate.

5) In the Enquiry Report it was mentioned that the petitioner has submitted a letter dated 23.04.2013 giving summary of facts. He did not present any witness in any of the meetings before the Committee. It is further contended that the petitioner has failed to produce any witness / relevant document to establish that he has passed the high school examination from Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura in 2005. The Enquiry Officer has further observed that a team of two persons was sent by BHEL, Haridwar to Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura on 14.03.2012 to establish the authenticity of the certificates as submitted by the petitioner at the time of jointing his service. A reply was received from the Vice Chancellor of said Vishwa Vidhyalaya on 07.04.2012 vide letter no. 587-12/Pra 610-12, in which it has been clearly mentioned that the University has no record of High School examination passing certificate and the University does not have any record of having issued such certificate to the petitioner.

6) Having considered the Enquiry Report, the Disciplinary authority took the decision and terminated the services of the petitioner vide termination order dated 24.10.2014, as the petitioner could not prove the validity of his Adhikari Pariksha.

7) I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the entire record.

8) In the writ petition no ground has been raised by the petitioner that decision of termination passed by respondent no. 3 is illegal or perverse. What had been averred in the writ petition are the factual findings as contended by the petitioner in the reply before the authority concerned.

9) The respondents BHEL filed its counter affidavit denying the averments made in the writ petition. However, it was stated that the petitioner was recruited as temporary Artisan under Deceased Employee Ward Category (DEW) and joined BHEL on 05.10.2010. Subsequently, his services were regularized as Artisan Grade IV on 05.10.2011. In reply to contents of para 10 of the writ petition, it was stated that petitioner submitted a representation dated 03.03.2014 along with letters from Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh to the Disciplinary Authority with a request to verify his High School certificate from Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, stating that Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh is the appropriate agency for verification instead of Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya. In the light of new fact submitted by the petitioner, the Disciplinary Authority constituted a Fact Finding Committee comprising on 03 members to ascertain the facts with respect to the documents submitted by the petitioner. The Committee visited Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The Committee in its report recommended to verify the High School certificate of petitioner from Gurukul Vishya Vidhyalaya and also verified that the documents submitted by him along with his representation dated 03.03.2014 were also not issued from the concerned authority of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Lucknow. Another Committee was again constituted with a view to ascertain once again the fact pertaining to the authenticity and genuineness of the High School Certificate from Acharya Swadesh, Pro Vice Chancellor, Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura and Pradhan, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Lucknow. The Committee submitted its report on 11.08.2014, supplementary report on 25.08.2014 along with letter dated 11.08.2014 from Registrar, Gurukul, Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan Mathura, wherein they have again confirmed that the High School certificate of the petitioner was fake / invalid.

10) Along with the counter affidavit, letter dated 11.08.2014 written by the Registrar, Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura to the Dy. General Manager (H.R.), BHEL was annexed, which says that Acharya Swadesh was not competent to verify the certificate of the petitioner. It is further stated that Islamia Inter College, Deoband, Saharanpur is not affiliated with the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan. It is also stated in said letter that in regard to the affairs of the Vishwa Vidhyalaya, the State of Uttar Pradesh has appointed Justice S.C. Verma, former Lokayukta, State of Uttar Pradesh as the Receiver. A letter dated 16.04.2009 was written by Justice S.C. Verma, former Lokayukta / Receiver, State of Uttar Pradesh on the letter head of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh. In said letter it has been informed that Adhikari Pariksha has not been conducted after the year 2003 by Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura. If any certificate in regard to the aforesaid Society is submitted by anyone, the same shall be considered as forged and the Society shall not be responsible for any such certificate.

11) Rejoinder affidavit has been filed by the petitioner in reply to the counter affidavit filed by respondent nos. 1 to 3. In paragraph no. 6 of the rejoinder affidavit it has been stated that letter dated 19.11.2014 was issued by the Controller (Examination and Recognition) Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, wherein it has been clarified that Chancellor of said University is the head of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. Acharya Swadesh constituted an unauthorized committee of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha and declared himself to be the Chancellor and one Bhagat Singh Verma as its Vice Chancellor. Acharya Swadesh nominated other persons as Office Superintendent and started communicating in the name of Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan. In reply to para 8 of the counter affidavit, it has been replied in para 7 of rejoinder affidavit that no documents were verified by the Enquiry Committee and on the statement of Office Superintendent they have submitted their report. Thus, this report cannot be relied on as the findings are not based upon verification of documents and record. In reply to para 18 of the counter affidavit, it has been stated in para 13 of rejoinder affidavit that the supplementary committee has based its report on letter dated 11.08.2014 issued by P.S. Jadhon, Registrar, Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura. As has submitted above, Acharya Swadesh has appointed several persons, including Mr. P.S.Jadhon. The Controller (Examination and Recognition) Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan vide his letter dated 15.12.2014 has written that Mr. P.S. Jadhon was never appointed as Registrar by the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha. In para 17 of the rejoinder affidavit it has been stated that the Committee has found that the letter dated 07.11.2012 issued by Acharya Swadesh was not issued by Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan. The Committee also found that they were two factions in the office. The Committee has further submitted the enquiry letter was forwarded to the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. The Disciplinary Authority erroneously put a note that no new facts could be found by the Committee and hence there is no basis for further verification.

12) A perusal of the record would reveal that the petitioner secured his appointment in BHEL on the strength of Adhikari Pariksha certificate allegedly issued by Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura. When it was detected that said certificate submitted by the petitioner was forged, a show cause notice was issued to him. The petitioner submitted his reply to the show cause notice. Being dissatisfied with the reply of the petitioner, an Enquiry Committee was appointed. During the course of enquiry, the employer collected the evidence from the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura. It has come in the documentary evidence provided by the officials of said University that no such record of any person named Nitin Bhardwaj was found. Further, Justice S.C. Verma, Receiver of Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura has wrote a letter that after the year 2003, the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura has not conducted any examination and if anyone produces such certificate of said University, the same is to be considered as a forged certificate. On the other hand, the petitioner has contended that Dr. Sehdev Chaudhary, Controller (Examination and Recognition) of said University had issued a letter to the mother of the petitioner stating that the petitioner has passed his Adhikari Pariksha from Islamia Inter College, Deoband, Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) with II Division, as a private candidate.

13) Indisputably, there is no Authorised Representative of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh which runs the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura . Former Lokayukta, State of Uttar Pradesh was appointed Receiver by the High Court of Allahabad. In view of the letter dated 16.04.2009 written by Justice S.C. Verma (retd.), who was appointed Receiver of Aryha Pratinidhi Sabha, Uttar Pradesh which runs the Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura, the names of neither Dr. Sehdev Chaudhary nor Acharya Swadesh find place as office bearers of said University. Since it is undisputed fact that Justice S.C. Verma (retd.), Receiver, has issued the letter that no examination was conducted in Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura after the year 2003, the burden lies upon the petitioner to prove that he had passed his Adhikari Pariksha from Gurukul Vishwa Vidhyalaya, Vrindavan, Mathura and Islamia Inter College, Deoband, Saharanpur was affiliated with said University and there was provision for a candidate to appear in said examination as a private candidate. The petitioner did not produce any evidence in this regard, though the burden lies on the petitioner to prove that he got appointed in the BHEL on the strength of said examination certificate. Show cause notice was issued to the petitioner. Reply was sought and having considered the entire material placed before the Enquiry Officer, he found that the certificate of Adhikari Pariksha submitted by the petitioner was forged and termination order has been passed by the employer / Disciplinary Authority after satisfying itself and after perusal of the enquiry report. The petitioner did not lead any evidence to challenge the impugned termination order that the same has been passed without any material evidence or the same is illegal and mala fide.

14) In exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, which provides the power of judicial review to this Court, this Court hardly finds any scope of interference in the decision taken by respondent no. 3, terminating the services of the petitioner.

15) The writ petition is devoid of merits and is, accordingly, dismissed. No order as to costs.