Hyderabad: Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) of Hyderabad bench upheld the decision of the central excise department in initiating disciplinary proceedings against its ‘corrupt’ staff along with criminal proceedings by CBI. The bench comprising Lata Baswaraj Patne, judicial member, and Varun Sindhu Kul Kaumudi, administrative member, said that there was no bar in law for initiation of simultaneous criminal and departmental proceedings on the same set of allegations.
The bench also viewed that the departmental inquiry was in regard to misconduct of the employees, lack of devotion to duty, lack of integrity and their conduct unbecoming of a public servant. The bench was dealing with three applications filed by S Gopala Krishna Murthy, D Tata Rao and K Narayana Prasad, employees of the customs and central excise, who allegedly indulged in corrupt practices in various cases. CBI registered different cases against them, which were pending.
Meanwhile, the central excise department initiated departmental proceedings. Challenging the same, they approached CAT, which had stayed disciplinary proceedings in its interim orders. After the final hearing, the CAT bench upheld the continuation of disciplinary proceedings simultaneously with the criminal proceedings. The bench also cited the cases which upheld the continuation of the disciplinary proceedings.
