–Contributed by Deepak Miglani(Legal Buddy)

Charge Sheet
The Object of a Charge-sheet is to tell the delinquent what he is supposed or alleged to have done and it is now more that well settled that the charges must be specific with a statement of allegations on which they are based, with such particulars and details as are necessary to give a reasonable opportunity of defence. Every case has to be distinguished on this own peculiar facts and circumstances.

Under industrial law, there is no form prescribed for a charge-sheet hence it becomes more important to draft it more carefully with precision and clarity. There are large number of cases wherein the departmental/domestic enquires have been vitiated for want of valid charge-sheet since it forms the basis of the disciplinary proceedings.

The framing of a charge-sheet being the first necessity for disciplinary action. It must be precise, specific and must set out all the necessary particulars. No labour enactment provides the formats or even essential ingredients of a charge-sheet. The object being to give the employee exact idea of the misconduct committed by him so that he may submit his explanation in his defence. Ordinarily, a charge-sheet would indicate the proposed punishment but there is no hard and fast rule about it.

In addition to the above, the charge-sheet should also take care to mention the particulars of time, place of occurrence and the manner in which the incident alleged to have taken place so as to remove vagueness and make the charge definite by mentioning these essential factors.

 
Essential Ingredients of a Charge-Sheet
 

i.            A charge-sheet being root of the disciplinary action, when vague, will vitiate the whole proceedings hence the penalty imposed on delinquent will be quashed.

ii.           The object of a charge-sheet is that the delinquent must know what he is charged with and have the adequate opportunity to mete the charges and to defend himself by giving a proper explanation.

iii.          A delinquent employee must be provided with the copies of the documents as relied upon by the Disciplinary Authority and the burden, to show that non-supply of documents required by the delinquent did not cause any prejudice to him, lies upon the Disciplinary Authority.

iv.         Failure to enclose the list of witnesses along with the charge memo will violate the Conduct Regulations, hence the entire disciplinary proceedings will be vitiated when it is so stipulated.

 

Guidelines for Drafting a Charge-Sheet

1. The charge-sheet must be specific and must set-out all the necessary particulars. It will serve no useful purpose at all to presume that the employee is fully informed of the charges because of any previous proceedings against him.
2. It is imperative to hold a regular enquiry before terminating the services of a workman. The enquiry itself must be preceded by serving on the workman concerned, a regular charge-sheet devoid of any vagueness. Any warnings that might have been given to a workman previously or from time to time or that his attention had been drawn to any fault, lapses on his part previously can , by no means, take the place of a regular enquiry.
3. Vague accusation, which the workman could not possibly follow, should not be made in the charge-sheet.
4. The charge-sheet must accurately and precisely state whether the act of commission or omission constituting misconduct is in violation of any standing order or not. The test is whether the charge conveys to the employee concerned, the exact nature of misconduct in a way that would enable him to mete the charge.
5. Where, for instance, the charge is for unauthorized collection of subscription on the work premises, the purpose for which such a subscription was collected need not be stated. But the time, date and place i.e. when and where the collection was made must be clearly mentioned.
6. When, under the standing orders or service rules, an act such as absence without leave, late attendance, negligence or disobedience is misconduct, when it is committed habitually then in such a case the word, habitual forms an essential constituent of the charge and must be expressly mentioned in the charge-sheet.
7. Similarly, if the standing orders or service rules provide damage to properly or disobedience or insubordination must be willful then the willfulness is an essential part of the charge and must be stated in the charge-sheet.
8. If theft or dishonestly is misconduct only if it is committed in connection with the employer's business or property, then this must be so stated in the charge-sheet in all its details.
9. If the charge is for arrogant conduct toward a superior, then it must be so stated in the charge-sheet giving the occasion on which the misconduct was committed and in respect of which particulars of the superior.
10. When an employee is charged for habitually disobeying the instructions, then each set of disobedience on his part must be separately mentioned in details in the charge-sheet.
11. The time and date of the incident should be mentioned in the charge-sheet in order to avoid vagueness and to enable the employee to make defence of alibi.
12. When an employee is charged for using objectionable and offending language, then the actual words used must be stated in the charge-sheet. In once case the facts were that the dismissal of the workman, a car driver, was set aside and reinstatement was awarded. The Industrial Tribunal observed that the exact words or at best a substantial reproduction of the same must be held material in order to come to a conclusion as to whether the words used are insulting or abusive or not, particularly in view of the fact that a much greater laxity of language is permitted nowadays.
13. While verbiage is to be avoided, use of any abbreviations such as etc. must be equally shunned. Phrases such as any other document are vague and ineffective and so, only reference should be made to specific thing or a particular person.
14. It is important to remember that the language of a charge-sheet , which being precise, must not give the impression that the employer has taken the question of the employee's guilt as foregone conclusion.
15. The delinquent employee be furnished with the documents and reports as referred to in the charge-sheet otherwise his termination will be quashed.
16. As far as practicable, the language of a charge-sheet must be simple and be one that is commonly understood or in common usage.
17. When the previous record of the employee is relied upon, then sufficient particulars of the previous bad record should be specified in the charge-sheet.
18. When the charge to be leveled is that an employee altered the relevant entries in the record with some ulterior motive then, in such a case , the workman should be informed as to what precisely was the motive being attributed to him for so doing because unless this is done, the charge-sheet would suffer from the disqualification of vagueness.
19. Mere cataloguing for recital of charges without the requisite details, a charge-sheet is open to question of its validity and is an exercise in futility.
20. Another important point on which caution is necessary, is to make use of the term about in relation to the date and time of a particular incident if misconduct.
21. A valid charge-sheet must be in precise terms as there is no room for using loose or vague term which fails to convey, in the correct sense, a charge brought against an employee.
22. In the case of a theft, it is most necessary to mention full particulars of the goods or articles stolen.
23. Full particulars, with regard to the date and time of the incident including the place of occurrence must be indicated.
24. The charge-sheet should also not be issued with a bias and closed mind as may show drawing up of a positive conclusion against delinquent and requiring him to dispel the same.
25. Workman charge for having instigated strike, subsequently executing document of good behaviour, cannot be punished in absence of any evidence of his going back on such assurance.
26. Another yet equally important point to be noted, while drawing up a charge-sheet is that a workman charged for tampering and falsification of weigh weighment sheets cannot be punished for having found guilty of carelessness and negligence.
27. If particulars of misconduct are not incorporated in the charge-sheet, then it will not be considered charge-sheet and the entire enquiry will become farce in which the principles of natural justice were not complied with . In such case the dismissal order is liable to be quashed.
28. It is the duty of the employer to indicate to a delinquent employee served with the charge-sheet not only the precise nature of charges, but also the documents, if any, upon which the charges are based.
29. In the absence of Regulations, an employee can not be chargesheeted under that .
30. The charge-sheet must be signed by the competent authority.
31. A charge-sheet, issued after long delay of the misconduct, will vitiate the enquiry. In another case, it has been observed by the Karnataka High Court that a charge-sheet issued after five years of the alleged misconduct will be vitiated

Source:- HRD & Labour Law Reference cum Diary 2007

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