Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, December 19

The Supreme Court has ruled that desertion by security personnel amounted to “gross misconduct” that required suitable punishment.A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur made the remark while ordering compulsory retirement of a constable of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for deserting the force for five days in 1999.Constable Abrar Ali had joined the force in September 1990. The CISF Commandant, Dhanbad, had dismissed Ali from service in November 2000. In August 2014, the Delhi High Court directed the CISF to reinstate the constable and pay him the entire arrears of his salary and other allowances in two months. The CISF challenged the HC ruling in the apex court.“Indiscipline on the part of a member of an armed force has to be viewed seriously. It is clear that the respondent (Ali) intentionally disobeyed the orders of his superiors and deserted the force for five days.Such desertion is an act of gross misconduct and the respondent deserves to be punished suitably,” the apex court Bench held. Justices DY Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao were the other members of the Bench.The apex court also ruled that the past conduct of a delinquent employee could be taken into consideration while imposing penalty. Prior to his dismissal, Ali had been awarded three punishments, two of these were major involving pay deduction.The apex court, however, reduced the punishment from dismissal to compulsory retirement. It asked the CISF to pay him pension by treating that he had notionally completed 10 years of service, the minimum period for the benefit.