Fraudulent Practice For Public Employment Can't Be Permitted: Supreme Court

It was the case of the PSU that the miners, whose names were not in the list of the Employment Exchange of the area concerned, were illegally appointed through fraudulent means.

Fraudulent practice to gain public employment cannot be permitted by a court of law as the abuse of legitimate process would mean deprivation of job benefits to rightful beneficiaries, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday. The verdict came while allowing the appeal of the management of one of the entities of public sector undertaking M/s Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) against an order of the division bench of the Jharkhand High Court asking the PSU to reinstate 38 miners, belonging from Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, with 50 per cent back wages. It was the case of the PSU that the miners, whose names were not in the list of the Employment Exchange of the area concerned, were illegally appointed through fraudulent means in collusion with two of its employees who have already been terminated. Upholding the termination of 38 of miners, a bench of justices S K Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy said, "The reversal of the well-reasoned order of the learned Single Judge is found to be unjustified. The appeal accordingly stands allowed by setting aside the LPA judgement and restoring the decision of the learned Single Judge."