Charged officers to get copy of UPSC advice before final disciplinary action

NEW DELHI: Bureaucrats facing disciplinary proceedings must now be served a copy of the advice tendered by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to the disciplinary authority, before the latter issues its final order of penalty.

As per the revised procedure approved by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) under Rule 32 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, the delinquent officers, including those from the All India Services (IAS, IPS and IFoS), can submit their written representation to the disciplinary authority against the UPSC advice within 15 days of its receipt, along with the inquiry report.

The DoPT guidelines regarding mandatory communication of the UPSC advice to the charged officer are in deference to a 2011 Supreme Court order in the Union of India Vs SK Kapoor case. The apex court had held that it is a settled principle of natural justice that if any material is to be relied upon in departmental proceedings, a copy of the same must be supplied in advance to the charged employee so that he may have a chance to rebut the same.

"The matter has been examined in consultation with department of legal affairs and it has been decided that ... a copy of the advice of UPSC, in all cases where the Commission is consulted, may be provided to the charged officer, notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 17 and Rule 32 of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, before a final decision is taken by the disciplinary authority," said a DoPT order issued on Monday.

According to the revised procedure, the disciplinary authority must examine the inquiry report and forward the same to the UPSC with his observations. The UPSC will then tender its advice, which will be examined by the disciplinary authority before being forwarded to the charged officer along with the inquiry report and his tentative reasons for disagreement with the inquiry report, if any. The charged officer will be free to submit his written representation to the disciplinary authority within the next 15 days.

The disciplinary authority shall consider the representation of the charged officer and take further action as prescribed in sub-rules 2(A) to (4) of Rule 15 of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965.

Earlier, the UPSC was directly giving its advice to disciplinary authorities.