Integrity of employees dealing with public money should be

The Allahabad High Court has declined to give relief to a Railway booking clerk punished 12 years ago for excess recovery of Rs 242 in government and private cash, observing that the integrity of employees deployed to deal with public money should be beyond doubt.
A Lucknow bench comprising justices DK Arora and Virendra Kumar observed, "Nowadays, in public dealing, there is rampant corruption. Therefore, public servants, who indulge in corrupt practices must be punished in disciplinary proceedings sternly and punishment should commensurate with misconduct committed by the employee."
Petitioner Tapan Kumar Chakravarti was posted at the booking office at Lucknow Junction when preventive check was conducted by vigilance team on August 21, 2006.

Later, he was charged for producing Rs 185 excess in his private cash without any valid reason and Rs 57 excess in his government cash.
He was further charged for keeping 6 II ME (mail/express) tickets neither cancelled nor crossed/defaced with an intention to resale for his personal gain.
The Railways pronounced him guilty of failure to maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty and acting in a manner unbecoming of a railway servant thereby contravening Railway Service Conduct Rules 1966.

The petitioner was punished with reduction of pay as well as withholding of increment for three years by the disciplinary authority.

In his reply, the petitioner had said that no serious irregularity was found during the vigilance check, on the basis of which he was subjected to disciplinary proceedings.
Some minor omissions were noticed by the vigilance team. "The recovery of amount of Rs 57 in excess of government money could be possible due to money transaction in excess or shortage, and this mistake was liable to be adjusted according to Rule 71 of Commercial Rules.
"It is mentioned that in daily trains cash book-cum- summary and balance sheet, there were columns for excess money or deficiency. The railways did not produce any evidence that the money was realized by the petitioner from any source or passenger. Thus, it is a valid reason for error in transaction," contended the petitioner.

After not getting any relief from Railways, the petitioner moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). He challenged the CAT order passed on March 31, 2015.
Dismissing the petition, the high court last week said that it was devoid of any merit.
It held that employees deployed to deal with public money transactions in financial institutions and departments like Railways and banks "should have integrity beyond doubt".