forged documents
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 24 June 2011
This query is : Resolved
dear sir,
during an internal inquiry i had submitted a set of photostat documents containing official warnings to a junior(say accused) citing them as the reason for his levelling unsubstantiated allegations of irregularities committed by me. during the inquiry the letters were denied to have been received by him and he claimed that his signatures on these warning letters were forged. the inquiry chose to believe him and sent the documents to govt forensic lab for opinion. the same report was not shown to me. parallely, i also forwarded these disputed documents to a well established forensic examiner alongwith the speciment signatures of the accused of the period relevant to the date of the disputed documents. this examiner has ruled the signatures to be of the accused person and has given a detailed scientific explanation for his findings. my question is
1. can the internal inquiry which is fact finding qua si judicial body summarily disregard report obtained by me.
2. can the inquiry deny me the report/opinion of the govt forensic lab even when asked for during the inquiry so as to enable me cross examine its findings if adverse for me.
3. can they give their findings on the disputed document without cross examining the forensic expert contacted by me even when strongly requested by me to establish the truth.
kindly guide me on the settled law position on the above query.thanks
Isaac Gabriel
(Expert) 24 June 2011
In domestic enquiry, it is the prerogative of the enquiry officer to accept or reject the submissions.He is bound to give the report as to whether the charges levelled have been proved or not.It depends upon the decision making body ie the authority to accept or reject it.Till such time you need to wait.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 24 June 2011
sir, thank you for the reply. my question is that even during the domestic inquiry the enquiry officer has to follow certain basic tenets of law and principle of natural justice. would he be deemed to have acted correctly if he chose to disregard my submissions and expert evidence provided by me without subjecting the expert to a cross examination, should he doubt his report or secondly, not providing me access to the govt lab report so as to enable my cross examination of their expert. by not following the above steps have they not voilated the principle of natural justice and in the given circumstances how much weightage will his report carry should i decide to appeal. lastly can i request access to the inquiry report under the RTI act before the higher authority has given its decision. please help thanks
