Conduct and Discipline Rules- Glossary O to R

Conduct and Discipline Rules- Glossary ‘O’ to ‘R’

Offence: “By the word offence in Art. 20 is meant something which is a violation of a law in force and the violation of it, the law prescribes a penalty.”

Offence shall mean any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force.

Order: A command or direction, a command or direction given by a superior officer requiring execution of a task or other obedience, formal written instructions.

Order-signing of: Decisions taken by quasi-judicial authorities (like appointing authority, disciplinary authority, inquiry officer etc.) are necessarily to be communicated under their signatures.”

Order-service of: Every order, notice and other process made or issued under CCS (CCA) Rules shall be served in person on the Government servant concerned or communicated to him by registered post.

Order-service of-shall be deemed to have effected: “Where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act authorizes or requires any document to be served by post, whether the expression “service” or either the expressions “give” or “send” or any other expression is used, then, unless a different intention appears, the service shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing, pre-paying and posting by registered post, a letter containing the document, and unless the contrary is proved, to have been effected at the time at which the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.”

“It is well settled principle of law that letters duly addressed and sent per registered post shall be deemed to have been served on the addressee if the acknowledgments return with endorsements like ‘left’ and ‘refused’.”

Order-service-effect: “Order of suspension takes effect when it is served on the employee.”

“An administrative order cannot be said to have taken effect unless it is served.”

Pecuniary: of, belonging to, or having relation to money.

Penalty: A punishment imposed for any breach of law, rule or contract.

Penalties under CCS (CCA) Rules: Ten penalties are specified under Rule 11 of CCS (CCA) Rules, of which five are under ‘minor’ category and five are under ‘major’ category.

Per incuriam: By ignorance of the previous decision of its own or of a court of coordinate or higher jurisdiction.

Period of limitation: The time laid down by law within which an action can be brought, and after the expiry of which recourse to courts cannot be had for any remedy.

“The laws give help to those who are watchful and not to those who go to sleep.”

“Qui tacit consentire videtur”-That one who does not speak when he ought to, he shall not be heard when he desires to speak.

Period of limitation of appeals: No appeal preferred under Part VII of CCS (CCA) Rules shall be entertained unless such appeal is preferred within a period of forty-five days from the date on which a copy of the order appealed against is delivered to the appellant.

Appellate authority may entertain the appeal even if it is not preferred within the limitation period, if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal in time.

Personal Law: The law which governs certain aspects of a person’s status, relationships or rights or privileges in regard to certain matters such as succession, marriage etc. by virtue of his belonging to a particular community or group.

Pleasure tenure: Pleasure tenure means that the tenure of or right to hold his post by a government servant is at the pleasure of the President where the post is held in connection with the affairs of the Union and of the Governor where the post is held in connection with the affairs of the State.

Preliminary inquiry: When allegations of misconduct or misbehaviour against a Govt. servant are brought to the notice of the disciplinary authority for initiating disciplinary proceedings, it may order a preliminary enquiry or fact finding enquiry. The purpose of holding the preliminary enquiry is not to find out whether the Govt. servant concerned is guilty or otherwise of the charges. The purpose is just to collect the facts and evidences relating to the allegation.

Prejudice: Injurious effect; injury to or impairment of a right, claim, statement etc.

Premature Retirement: A type of retirement for weeding out such Govt. servants who have outlived their utility to the Government. It may be ordered at any time after the Government servant has attained the age of 50 or 55 years (50 years for Group ‘A’ employees and for Group ‘B’ employees who had entered service before attaining the age of 35 years and 55 years for other employees). Premature retirement can be ordered at any time after completion of 30 years qualifying service also irrespective of other factors such as Group of employee and age at the time of entry into service. At least three months notice or pay instead of notice to be given to the employee before he is prematurely retired. This retirement is not treated as a penalty.

Presenting Officer: A Government servant or a legal practitioner appointed by an order of the disciplinary authority to present on its behalf the case in support of the articles of charge against a Government servant.

Presumption: In law of evidence, a presumption is a conclusion or inference as to the truth of some fact in question, drawn from some other fact judicially noticed or admitted to be true.

Previous statement: A statement made at some time antecedent to the one at which any matter to which statement is relevant has come under consideration.

“If the witnesses resile from their previous statements during enquiry proceedings, their previous statements can be relied upon”.

Prima facie: On the face of it; at first sight; based on the first impression.

Prima facie evidence: Evidence sufficient in law to raise a presumption of fact or establish the fact in question unless rebutted.

Primary evidence is the one derived from the original source. In other words, in the case of documents, the evidence based on the original document; and in the case of oral evidence, the statement made by the person who has personal knowledge of the matter.

Probable: That may reasonably be expected to happen or prove true.

Probability: The quality or fact of being probable, a probable event.

Probation means “a system of releasing on suspended sentence, during good behaviour, young persons and especially first offenders, and placing them under the supervision of a probation officer who acts as a friend and adviser.”

Protection under Article 311 (1): Article 311 (1) enjoins that “No person who is a member of a civil service of the Union or an All India Service or a civil service of a State or holds a civil post under the Union or a State shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was appointed.”

Protection under Article 311 (2): As per Article 311 (2) of the Constitution, no civil servant can be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

Proved: According to the definition to ‘proved’ as given in the Indian Evidence Act, a thing is said to be proved when the Court after considering the matter before it (1) either believes it that it exists, or (2) considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought to act upon the supposition that it exists.

Proviso: A clause inserted in a legal or formal document, making some condition, stipulation, exception or limitation or upon the observance of which the operation or validity of the instrument depends.

Provision: Each of the clause or divisions of a legal instrument laying down a rule for the regulation of some particular matter.

‘Public document’ is a document, which can be made use of by general public by way of inspection or making copies etc.

“Voters list is a public document and genuineness of entry made therein has to be presumed unless presumption is displaced.”

Public duty: Duty owed to the people in general; duty attaching to the office held under the State.

Public interest in relation to public administration means that only honest and efficient persons are to be retained in service while the services of dishonest or the corrupt or who are almost dead wood are to be dispensed with.”

Public Place means any place or premises (including a conveyance) to which the public have, or permitted to have, access, whether on payment or otherwise.

Quantum of penalty: It is the disciplinary authority’s prerogative to decide the quantum of penalty to be awarded to the delinquent Govt. servant in a departmental proceeding. The quantum of penalty must be proportionate to the gravity of the misconduct. If excessive or disproportionate penalty is imposed it would offend Article 14 of the Constitution.

Quasi-judicial proceedings mean proceedings, which are not exactly judicial, but may be administrative proceedings having judicial trappings. In other words, though the authority competent to decide is not a court of law, the authority is bound to act judicially by statute. Disciplinary proceedings are quasi-judicial in nature.

Reduction in rank: ‘Reduction in rank’ is bringing down a civil servant to a lower time scale, grade, service, or post, held earlier by him before promotion and not below the post, grade, service or time scale to which a civil servant was directly recruited.

Reduction to a lower stage in the time scale of pay does not amount to ’reduction in rank’ in terms of Article 311 (2) of the Constitution.

Re-examine: To examine a witness again after cross examination for the purpose of explaining matters referred to in cross examination or of introducing new matters with court’s permission.

Regulation: Rule prescribed for the management of some matter; rule or order having the force of law issued by an executive authority of a government usually under power granted by the Constitution.

Reinstate: To reinstall; to re-establish; to place again in former state, condition or office.

Reinstatement: The term ‘reinstatement’ is used to denote resumption of his office by a person who has been dismissed or removed or whose service has been terminated or who has been under suspension or deemed suspension.

Revoke: To call back, to rescind or to annul by recalling or taking back.

An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under Rule 10 of CCS (CCA) Rules may at any time be modified or revoked by the authority which made or is deemed to have made the order or by any authority to which that authority is subordinate.

Right to life: Article 21 of the Constitution provides:

No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.

Aspects of ‘life’ include man’s “tradition, culture, heritage, and protection of that heritage in full measure”. “An equally important facet of right to life is the right to livelihood because, no person can live without the means of living, that is the means of livelihood. The right to life “also includes “the right to live with human dignity” and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessities of life such as, adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing ourselves in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and communicating with fellow human beings.” Right to live in healthy environment, right to maintenance and improvement of public health and right to education has also been regarded as part of right to live with human dignity.

Role of Inquiry Officer: The main role of Inquiry Officer in a departmental inquiry is to record/take on record oral and documentary evidence produced by the prosecution and the defence and to analyze the evidences to arrive at a reasonable and logical conclusion as regards to the guilt or otherwise of the delinquent Govt. servant. When he analyzes the evidence or record, he should not use any extra material collected behind the back of the delinquent Govt. servant or import his own personal knowledge into the evidence. “The inquiry officer should confine himself to the charges against the delinquent and must not base his findings on extraneous facts or considerations”

Rule Making Power: The main power to make rules regulating the recruitment and conditions of service in respect of services and posts in connection with the Union is conferred by Article 309 on the Parliament. The power can be exercised only by enacting Acts. A rule under the Proviso to Art. 309 can be made by the President or his delegate when there is no such rule made by the Parliament. If no rules have been made under Art. 309, the main part or the proviso, it is open to the Government to lay down principles relating to recruitment and conditions of service by administrative instructions or executive orders.

Rule of law: The term ‘rule of law’ in brief connotes the undisputed supremacy of law and envisages a state of things in which everyone respects the law and where law is to be followed by everyone collectively and individually by the citizens as well as the State.

Article 14 of the Constitution mandates rule of law.