Delay in inquiry no reason to quash dept proceedings: HC

A division bench headed by Justice D D Sinha was hearing a petition filed by Raj Kuwatkar, employed as Appraising Officer in Customs department, seeking to quash a notice of charge sheet issued against him in 2002 to initiate departmental inquiry by the Commissioner of Customs.

Kuwatkar, who has been employed with the Customs department since 1991, was accused of allowing unauthorised persons to make false entries in Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) of non-existent firms, thereby causing loss of over Rs one crore to the government exchequer.

According to the Customs department, Kuwatkar committed these lapses in the year 1998, when he was an upper divisional clerk and was assigned the verification of DEPB of exporters.

Kuwatkar had challenged the commissioner of customs' issuance of charge sheet for initiation of inquiry before the Central Administrative Tribunal. However, the tribunal in March this year dismissed his application following which he approached the high court.

Advocate S V Marne, appearing for Kuwatkar, argued that the memorandum of charge sheet was liable to be set aside and quashed as it was issued after an inordinate and unexplained delay. (More)