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Forging rent receipt can cost an employee his job as the Delhi high court has held that such a person can be dismissed from service even in the absence of any rules.
Justice Rajiv Sahay Endlaw dismissed the plea of an employee that departmental inquiry and consequent dismissal from job for forging a rent receipt was illegal as the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy had no rules governing services.
"The element of faith between the employer and the employee is necessary and forms the basis of this relationship where both work for their respective gains. Once such faith and trust is breached, the employer cannot be forced to keep the employee in which it has lost faith.
"There was no need for the institute to frame any Rules providing that its employees should be faithful in the discharge of their duties and in the discharge of such duties shall maintain absolute integrity and honesty," the court said.
It declined the plea of petitioner Kulwant Singh that the institute did not adopt uniform parameter while terminating his service as another employee was being given lesser punishment for similar act.
"The punishment may vary from case to case. If an employee on being so charged immediately admits his guilt and seeks pardon, lesser punishment may be meted out to him.
"However, the petitioner inspite of the charge-sheet, contested the same and went through the rigmarole of the entire examination and cross examination of witnesses before the inquiry officer," the court said, adding that a dishonesty remains a dishonesty irrespective of the amount involved.
Petitioner Kulwant Singh was charged with having defrauded the institute of around Rs 1,378 between May, 1980 to June, 1983 by forging rent receipt.
Earlier, the Industrial tribunal had in 1997 refused to grant relief to Singh saying his dismissal was neither illegal nor unjustified.
Singh was dismissed from service in 1989 after he had been charge-sheeted and domestic inquiry found him guilty of misconduct.