Servants under Article 311 of the Constitution of India

Article 311 provides two procedural safeguards to the civil servants in relation to their tenure of office.
These are:- A) No removal or dismissal by an authority subordinate to the appointing authority.
B) No removal or dismissal or reduction in rank, except after an inquiry affording reasonable opportunity of
hearing.
However, as is said by Lord Acton that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, many a
times, some Govt. Servants start misusing their official power and position.

They start shirking work, do not do their work as per rules and orders and indulge in other kinds of
misconduct. Therefore, in order to discipline them and to control them, the concept of departmental
proceedings is provided in the service rules.

The departmental proceedings against a public servant has to go through various steps such as:
1. Lodging of complaint or making allegations of misconduct against the Govt. Servant.
2. Holding of Preliminary Inquiry.
3. Consideration of the report of the Preliminary Inquiry by the disciplinary authority.
4. Show cause notice to the delinquent official who is prima facie held responsible in the Preliminary
Inquiry.
5. Replying of the employee to the Show Cause Notice.
6. Issuance of Charge-sheet to the delinquent official, if reply is considered unsatisfactory by the
disciplinary authority.
7. Replying of the employee to the charge-sheet.
8. Scrutiny of the reply by the disciplinary authority.
9. Appointment of Enquiry Officer i.e. order for regular inquiry and nomination of Presenting Officer.
10. Legal assistance for defence.
11. Attendance and examination of witnesses.
12. Submission of Inquiry report by the enquiry officer.
13. Show Cause Notice to the delinquent employee
14. Submission of reply and Consideration of past records of the delinquent official
15. Penalty Proposed.
16. Final order.
17. Service Appeal, if any.

The procedure to be followed in disciplinary proceedings is generally laid down in Service Rules and
Standing Orders made there under. However, the procedure, so laid down, is subordinated to the
provisions of the Constitution of India i.e. any rule can not be ultra-vires the provisions of the Constitution,
e.g. Article 310,311 etc. Although the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act,1872, do not apply to the
departmental proceedings but the principal of natural justice has to be followed. Thus, reasonable
opportunity to defend himself must be given to the person against whom departmental proceedings have
been initiated. It is also to note that acquittal in criminal proceedings on the same set of charges, per se,
does not entitle the delinquent to claim immunity from disciplinary proceedings, as observed by the
Supreme Court in case C.M.D.U.C.O. Vs P.C. Kakkar, AIR 2003 SC 1571.In the same way, departmental
proceedings may be continued even after retirement of the employee. (U.P.S.S. Corp.Ltd. Vs
K.S.Tandon, AIR 2008 SC 1235) The detailed analysis of various steps of the departmental proceedings is
provided as under:- (1)Lodging of a complaint: The departmental proceedings against a Government
servant starts with the lodging of a complaint with the disciplinary authority. On the receipt of a complaint, it
is open to the disciplinary authority to hold preliminary inquiry to ascertain the prima facie truth in the
allegations. The complaint may be made by an ordinary citizen or superior officer of the employee.