Whether performing second marriage without permission of govt will amount to misconduct?
punishment imposed upon the petitioner is grossly disproportionate
to the misconduct committed by him. We must keep in mind the
fact that the petitioner had already rendered 18 years of service
before he contracted into the second marriage. He was terminated
after he had completed almost 20 years of service. In the reply,
there is no allegation that there was any other complaint against
the petitioner. No doubt, his act of marrying a second time without
seeking permission of the Government is misconduct but can it be
said that this misconduct is so severe that he should be dismissed
from service which would mean that he would virtually be entitled
to no pensionary or other benefits.
8. The petitioner has pleaded that he was not aware of
the provisions of Rule 21 of the CCS (Conduct) Rules. Ignorance of
law is no excuse but at the same time, we cannot ourselves ignore
the hard truth that a large number of employees are not aware of
the details of the rules. Whatever be the case, the petitioner is a
person who served the BSF for about 20 years and the allegation
against him is that he misconducted himself by contracting a
second marriage while his first spouse was living. This is not a
criminal offence of bigamy because the personal law permits such
conduct. Misconduct is the technical misconduct in not seeking
permission of the authorities concerned. We are, therefore, of the
opinion that though the misconduct of the petitioner is serious
enough to warrant his non-continuation in service but it is not so
serious as to warrant forfeiture of all his service benefits.
THE HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
A G A R T A L A
WP(C) 588 OF 2015
Ghulam Nabi Shergujri,
– V e r s u s –
The United of India,
BEFORE
HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. DEEPAK GUPTA
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE S. TALAPATRA
Dated: 04.4.2016.
https://www.lawweb.in/2016/04/whether-performing-second-marriage.html
