The Supreme Court has upheld the termination of a Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employee who remained absent from duty for over 90 days without informing the employer. The bench overturned a decision by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, which had earlier ordered the reinstatement of the employee with all benefits.
The LIC employee, who served as an assistant administrative officer, had been terminated after failing to respond to repeated notices. LIC had issued multiple communications, including a chargesheet and a show-cause notice, but the employee’s whereabouts remained unknown. Treating the prolonged absence as abandonment of service, LIC invoked Regulation 39(4)(iii) of the LIC Staff Regulation to remove him.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had earlier ruled that the termination was invalid, citing a lack of due process and opportunity for the employee to respond. The Supreme Court, however, found that the employee had not only failed to respond to LIC’s notices but also suppressed a critical fact—that he had secured new employment with the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
The apex court determined that this suppression undermined the employee’s plea for relief. It noted that if the High Court had been aware of the subsequent employment, it might have reached a different conclusion. The Supreme Court ruled that the employee’s conduct demonstrated a clear case of abandoning his job at LIC and justified the disciplinary action taken by the employer.
In its decision, the court emphasised that equitable relief under Article 226 of the Constitution was not available to an individual who had concealed material facts. It concluded that LIC acted within its authority under the Staff Regulations and upheld the termination as valid.
