Karnataka HC Sets Aside Pay Penalties Against Five Municipal Employees, Extending Relief After Chief Officer’s Same-Enquiry Challenge succeeded

The petitioners, employees of Hanuru Town Municipal Council, challenged the Director of Municipal Administration’s order imposing on them the penalty of reduction to a lower stage in the time scale of pay following a common disciplinary enquiry.

They contended that the penalty imposed on the Chief Officer, a co-delinquent in the same enquiry, had been set aside in W.P. No. 9429 of 2024, and that they were entitled to similar relief.

The State accepted that the Chief Officer’s penalty had been set aside.

The Court applied the principle of parity in the context of a common disciplinary enquiry: where a co-delinquent’s penalty has been set aside on consideration of the evidence in that enquiry, the other co-delinquents may receive corresponding relief.

The Court relied on the findings in W.P. No. 9429 of 2024, including the reproduced conclusions concerning the evidentiary and procedural deficiencies in the enquiry.

The quoted conclusions also refer to Rule 8(vi) of the Karnataka Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957, but the present Court did not separately analyse that rule.

The petition invoked Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.

The Court noted that the enquiry was common to the petitioners and the Chief Officer, and that the co-ordinate Bench had examined the evidence and set aside the Chief Officer’s penalty.

The State did not dispute the petitioners’ account of the earlier decision.

Having considered that decision and the shared enquiry, the Court held that the findings in W.P. No. 9429 of 2024 warranted setting aside the penalties imposed on the petitioners as well.

It directed the respondents to reinstate the petitioners with arrears, continuity of service, and all consequential benefits, with compliance within four weeks of receipt of the certified order.