- (1.) Heard the parties.
(2.) The Petitioner was appointed as Accounts Executive and he was promoted to the post of Chief Finance Manager (F & A) by the order dated 16th August, 1997. By the impugned order dated 31.12.2002, he was removed from the service by the Disciplinary Authority i.e. the Chairman of the SAIL. The Petitioner preferred an appeal before the Board of Directors and the said appeal was dismissed by the appellate authority on 20.6.2003 (Annexure-10), which is also the impugned in this writ application.
(3.) The learned senior counsel appearing for the Petitioner contended that the Chairman of the SAIL, Sri V.S. Jain itself was the disciplinary authority against whose order the appeal lies to the Board of Directors of the Company, which is headed by Sri V.S. Jain, the Chairman of SAIL and the impugned order of punishment dated 31.12.2002 was passed by Sri Jain, the Chairman of the SAIL. Sri V.S. Jain headed the Board of Directors while hearing the appeal and the appeal was dismissed. He further contended that the order of removal having been passed by the Disciplinary Authority Sri V.S. Jain, who was the then Chairman of the SAIL was disqualified to have presided over and participated in the deliberations of the Meeting of the Board, who heard and dismissed the appeal of the Petitioner and therefore, the order of the appellate authority was vitiated on account of legal bias.;