- (1.) The petitioner is working as an Assistant, Accounts Branch, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak and has 26 years of service to his credit. It was in the year 1992, one Rama Devi daughter of Shri V.N. Sharma got the Degree of Bachelor of Education. She applied for duplicate Degree of Bachelor of Education after completing the formalities. It was on 1.12.1998, the petitioner, who was working as Assistant in the Branch prepared the duplicate Degree on the basis of the result sheet. The said result sheet and Degree was verified by various officials and the petitioner was one of them at the time of supplying the duplicate Degree. There was no suspicion of any type that the result sheet was fake. The duplicate Degree was given to Rama Devi. It was in the year 1999, the petitioner became suspicious about the genuineness of the result sheet and he brought the said fact into the knowledge of the higher officials that there seems to be a scandal for tampering with the result sheet. This step was appreciated by the higher officials and he was recommended for Award of Excellence for the year 1999. By that time, some duplicate Degrees and Detailed Mark Sheets had already been issued on the basis of the tampered result sheets and the petitioner was Assistant in the Accounts Branch, hence the petitioner and two others were placed under suspension on the allegation that they were involved in the tampering of record relating to the Examination Branch as well as dereliction in the discharge of their official duty. The copy of suspension order dated 9.1.2002 is attached herewith as Annexure P-3. The petitioner was charge- sheeted for the preparation of four duplicate DMCs/Degrees on the basis of the fake entries in the result sheet without proper verification and checking of the corroborative record and without proper application of mind. A copy of the charge-sheet dated 1.4.2002 is Annexure P-4.
(2.) An Enquiry committee was appointed, which found that the petitioner was careless while preparing the duplicate Mark Sheets/Degrees as the concerned pages of the result sheet were detached from the main result sheet and were also folded and it was the duty of the petitioner to re-check the correction of the concerned entries from second source. On the basis of that, the petitioner was given show cause notice for minor punishment with respect to stoppage of two increments with cumulative effect. The true copy of show cause notice is Annexure P-7.
(3.) It is pertinent to mention here that the University had appointed Mr. N.S. Ahlawat, District and Sessions Judge (Retd.) as Enquiry officer to look into the matters of irregularities and to find out the person responsible for the lapses. The Enquiry Officer submitted his report dated 22.12.2002 and observed on the issue of the petitioner as under : "Delinquent Sh. Ranvir Singh Dalal has argued while taking a consistent stand as also find mentioned in his reply to the charge-sheet that he has prepared the duplicate DMCs/degree on the basis of original record which was supplied to him and in case the record itself was fake as supplied by the concerned branch cannot be held liable for preparing duplicate DMCs/degrees on their basis. However, this statement of Sh. Ranvir Singh Dalal is not tenable because he was bound to take due care and caution as he has admitted in his earlier statement made before the Preliminary Enquiry Committee that result sheets of the candidates whose duplicate DMCs/degrees were prepared, some of the papers were folded and pages of the results sheets were found dislocated from the main binding, undoubtedly the duplicate DMCs/degrees are to be prepared on the basis of result sheets supplied by the Result Branch as stated by Sh. Ranvir Singh Dalal. However, in the given case where he himself admitted that pages of the result sheets of the same were found folded and detached from the main result sheets, a person of his experience should have cross-checked the veracity of the aforementioned suspicious sheets from other relevant record. In view of the above, it emerges from the oral as well as documentary evidence placed on record by the University that Sh. Ranvir Singh Dalal had prepared duplicate DMCs/degrees of candidates in particulars as find mentioned in the charge-sheet with negligence and in an irresponsible manner. However, there is no evidence on the record that the delinquent prepared aforementioned duplicate DMCs/degrees with (for ?) any personal gain or extraneous consideration.";