The Allahabad High Court has upheld the dismissal of a bus conductor who was found carrying 59 passengers without issuing tickets and failed to offer any satisfactory explanation. The Court reiterated that permitting passengers to travel without tickets constitutes serious misconduct warranting strict disciplinary action.
Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery, heard the said petition, which emphasized that in disciplinary matters, the High Court does not function as an appellate authority to reassess evidence unless the findings are perverse, something not established in the present case. The Court observed that the conductor’s conduct, coupled with his inability to justify issuing pay-bills in advance without distributing tickets, left no ground for judicial interference under writ jurisdiction.
The petitioner, employed as a conductor with the respondent transport corporation, was on duty on a route from Faizabad to Akbarpur when an inspection revealed that 59 passengers had not been issued tickets, despite pay-bills being filled. Following this, a charge sheet was issued and an inquiry conducted. After a second show cause notice, he was terminated from service. Although the matter was briefly remitted for reconsideration upon his representation, a fresh inquiry again found the charges partly proved, resulting in the same penalty.
The petitioner’s subsequent appeal before the Regional Manager was dismissed, directing him to approach the High Court.
Relying on the precedent set in MD, North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation v. K. Murti (2006), the Court reiterated that carrying passengers without tickets is a grave offence justifying termination. It also noted that the petitioner failed to dispute the standard practice of issuing tickets before filling pay-bills and was given adequate opportunity during the inquiry process but did not respond in time.
Finding the case devoid of merits or substantive defence, the Court concluded that there was no reason to interfere with the termination order and accordingly dismissed the petition.
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