No Corrupt Motive Found: Madras HC quashes Disciplinary Case against GST Deputy Commissioner [Read Order]

The Madras High Court has set aside disciplinary action against the Deputy Commissioner of GST, noting that there was no evidence of misconduct or corruptive motive on the part of the petitioner.

 The petitioner, Y. Kayalvizhi, was issued with a show cause notice ( SCN ) under Rule 17(a) of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1955, following her handling of an appeal filed by M/s. Pugazh Spices. The appeal was in connection with the tax orders for the years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, which were challenged by the dealers. petitioner, while serving as the appellate authority, had set aside the adjudicating authority's orders and imposed a minor penalty based on her finding that cancelled E-way bills had been produced by the dealers.

The disciplinary action against the petitioner was initiated on the grounds that she had failed to properly scrutinize the appeal files and had relied on cancelled E-way bills that were not part of the appeal records. The respondent accused her of negligence, leading to a punishment of stoppage of increment for two years with cumulative effect.

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The petitioner, who was aggrieved by the above decision, approached before the High Court for relief.

The petitioner challenged this decision, arguing that she had accessed the master files, where the cancelled E-way bills were available and had based her decision on those documents. She contended that her actions were in line with due procedure and that her defense had not been adequately considered by the disciplinary authorities.

The High Court observed that neither the original disciplinary authority nor the appellate authority had considered the petitioner's defense that she had reviewed the master files and found the cancelled E-way bills there. The court observed that there was no finding by the authorities that the cancelled E-way bills were absent from the master files

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The court relied on several Supreme Court judgements, such as Zunjarrao Bhikaji Nagarkar vs Union of India, in which the SC held that disciplinary proceedings against quasi-judicial officers should not be initiated merely for errors of law unless there is evidence of corrupt motives or reckless negligence.

Bench further observed that “the order of the Original Authority, as well as the Appellate Authority, will clearly establish the fact that both of them have not considered the defense of the writ petitioner that she had called for the master files and she had perused the cancelled E way bills and after being satisfied with the availability of cancelled E way bills, she had passed the said order. Both the authorities have not recorded any finding that the petitioner should pass orders only based upon the appeal files presented by the dealer and should not look into the master file.”

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The single bench of the High Court, comprising R. Vijaya Kumar, allowed the writ petition and held that the punishment imposed on her was without merit and set aside the disciplinary action.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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