A department cannot refuse an employee sight of papers merely because a criminal court holds them, Allahabad High Court holds

3 November 2026

The Allahabad High Court has held that a department which rests its charges on documents lying in the custody of a criminal court cannot use that custody as a reason to refuse the employee inspection of those documents. Justice Irshad Ali ruled in Raghuraj Singh against the Director of Agriculture of Uttar Pradesh and others. Where the papers are essential for the employee to meet or rebut the charges, the department has to take reasonable steps to get access to them, or else explain why access could not be arranged. The Court added that an employee's written reply to a charge-sheet does not relieve the department of its duty to prove the charges, and that the legality of an inquiry turns on the procedure actually followed. Giving only part of the documents does not satisfy natural justice when material papers are still withheld. The Court set aside the order of dismissal along with the recovery and suspension period directions, and left consequential claims to the competent authority. It made clear that the order rests on procedural defects alone.