New Delhi: Linking punishment with rank in the office hierarchy, the Supreme Court has said a higher authority carries higher responsibility and the consequences for any service misconduct would be so harsh, upholding separate penalties imposed on a senior manager, an officer and a gunman in a bank who were found guilty of misappropriating customers’ money.While the manager was dismissed, the officer was forcibly retired and the gunman’s salary was cut.The SC set aside a Delhi HC order that said there cannot be discrimination in punishment for the same offense and reduced the manager’s punishment from dismissal to compulsory retirement.

Supreme Court: Courts should show restraint in interfering in disciplinary action

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma said the difference in rank as well as the responsibility and trust attached to the position are compelling grounds for harsher punishment on higher ranked officials.The bench said, “The position of the respondent was not merely nominal; it brought with it an increased degree of responsibility and integrity. The role of the respondent required not only personal obedience but also supervision of the actions of subordinates. An accomplice with limited powers and authority could not be equated with the respondent.” “The seriousness of the misconduct must necessarily be measured with the nature of the misconduct. Thus, giving the benefit of parity to the defendant by the High Court merely because the co-offenders were given lighter punishment was completely misconceived,” it said while reinstating differential punishments.The bench also said that courts should exercise restraint while interfering in sentencing orders and said that generally, no court should interfere with the order of punishment imposed on an offender as a disciplinary action by a competent authority in the exercise of its power of judicial review. “This is based on the reason that the disciplinary authority is the best judge of the situation, and the requirements of maintaining discipline within the workforce...Judicial scrutiny of disciplinary action by way of punishment can take place only when the circumstances are such that no reasonable person would impose the punishment in question…” it said.