Chennai: Fake ST certificate charge memo quashed by Central Administrative Tribunal

Chennai: The Madras Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal has set aside charge memo issued by Central Board of Excise and Customs against the Superintendent of Customs for allegedly securing a job by submitting a fake ST certificate. The bench comprising judicial member Justice A. Arumughaswamy and administrative member R. Ramanujam, however, directed the department to proceed with the matter through a duly constituted committee.

In the petition, S. Rajendran, Superintendent of Customs, Headquarters, Legal and Review Section, Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Trichy, submitted that he joined the Central Board of Excise and Customs as DR Inspector in 1984. And, working as Superintendent of Customs in the office of Commissioner of Customs, Trichy.  On March 2, 2001, he was issued with a charge memo following the cancellation of his ST community certificate based on the proceedings of Chairman of the District Level Vigilance Committee on 14.02.2001.

He challenged the proceedings before the High Court of Madras in a writ petition. In the verdict dated 21.08.2003 the Court found that the constitution of the Committee itself was in violation of Supreme Court’s guidelines and granted liberty to institute a fresh enquiry by a properly constituted Committee. The charge memo was pending for more than a decade without cancelling.

Rajendran requested for promotion as there is no action been taken by the department on his caste status. In its reply, the department stated, Since the charge memo had not been revoked or dropped, the applicant could not be promoted as he was not free from vigilance angle. The department requested the District Superintendent of Police, Salem to file a report and is waiting for a reply.

The bench said we are of the view that since the High Court passed an order in 2003 itself and the department had not proceeded with the charge memo, it cannot survive indefinitely. Accordingly, the charge memo issued based solely on the report of the District Level Committee was quashed and set aside.  Further, since the High Court order was very clear, the department directed to proceed with the matter through a duly constituted Committee strictly as per the directions of the High Court.