Vasu Singh 10 June 2021

Punishment in double enquiry

My cousin's father is in a government job. He was recently accused of cheating and a criminal case is active against him and at the same time, he is under departmental enquiry also. Can he be punished for the same offence in two different courts of enquiry? Is there any solution to prevent him from getting punished in both the enquiries?

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Quick Summary

This discussion addresses whether an individual can face punishment in both criminal and departmental enquiries for the same offence. It clarifies that these are separate proceedings under different legal provisions, meaning both can proceed independently. While not considered double jeopardy, an employee could face dismissal from their job and potential punishment from a criminal court, depending on the evidence presented in each case.

4 Replies

P. Venu (Advocate) 10 June 2021

Yes, there is nothing illegal in criminal a swell as departmental proceedings. In both the cases, charges, need to met on their merits.

Dr J C Vashista (Advocate) 11 June 2021

Punishment can be awarded after holding the accused as "guilty" of the charges, which depends upon evidence(s) against the delinquent employee / charged person, which can not be predicted by experts on this platform..

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.) 11 June 2021

Without knowing the facts and the exact charges it is difficult to give any opinion in an ongoing case, and it becomes speculation. Yes , in all such cases the employee is liable to be dismissed and may also have to undergo punishment if a criminal court delivers such a judgment.

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 11 June 2021

Bothe the court and the departmental inquiry committee are two different entities and the case before them are under different provisions of law.

Hence both the court and the department can go ahead with the disposal of the case on the basis of the trial conu ted by both the entities separately.

This may not fall under double jeopardy