The inquiry report, prove that this was a case in which the applicant had clearly not been found to be Schedule Tribe. Further, enough evidence had been found to prove his having submitted a forged Caste Certificate. The arguments now being raised to challenge the orders of the respondents, do not merit a serious consideration and given the factual matrix of the case, appear to be more in the nature of an endeavour to bring by the back door the rules and the procedures of the Evidence Act, held not to be strictly applicable in case of disciplinary proceedings. as in this case the impugned action has been taken by the respondents after a lapse of 24 years, the same could not be justified and even the applicant's defence after such a long gap has been highly prejudiced.
