Employee Dismissed From Service Without Enquiry To Be Reinstated: Karnataka High Court

A division bench of the Karnataka High Court in Writ Appeal No. 543 of 2023 set aside the appeal filed by Attikaribettu Grama Panchayath challenging a single judge’s order directing reinstatement of the employee who had been dismissed from service. The Hon’ble Court noted that no employee can be punished by way of dismissal from service without affording them an opportunity to be heard in accordance with the principles of natural justice. Further, it observed that although ordinarily where an employee is convicted and sentenced for an offence involving moral turpitude, as the employee in the instant case has not been convicted and sentenced, he cannot be removed from service on that ground per se in the instant case.