New Delhi, November 29: Rights of civil servants cannot be put in “jeopardy” on the assumption that an inquiry might be conducted into alleged negligent actions on their part, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held.
“There might have been lapses which might be actionable but so long as they were in the minds of the officers alone and not translated to any specific action, right of a civil servant should not have been subjected to jeopardy,” the CAT headed by Vice-Chairman M Ramachandran said.
The tribunal passed the order on a plea of P K Sud, an Under Secretary with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, who was promoted to Deputy Secretary and was given posting at the UPSC.
Sud was, however, not relieved by the Ministry on the assumption that an inquiry might be conducted against him and he challenged the action in the tribunal.
The Ministry contended that there was an act of negligence on his part in submitting a misleading report on ‘village gramin bank scheme in tribal areas’ which was placed in Parliament by a minister.
–PTI