Chandrakant Patel tried to pocket Rs 9 without issuing a ticket to a passenger and has been punished by reduci... Read More

AHMEDABAD: A little greed proved costly for a GSRTC bus conductor , when he suffered a loss of nearly Rs 15 lakh in his salary for trying to pocket Rs 9 without issuing a ticket to a passenger.

The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) initiated disciplinary proceedings against the conductor and punished him by reducing his pay scale to two stages below his existing pay. The GSRTC also ruled he will complete the rest of his service on fixed pay on permanent basis.

An industrial tribunal and later the Gujarat high court also upheld the punishment and rejected petitions of the conductor, who, according to GSRTC, had been found with unaccounted money on at least 35 previous checks.

In this case, Chandrakant Patel was working as a conductor in a bus running from Chikhli to Ambach village. In a surprise check near Kudvel village on July 5, 2003, the inspector collected tickets from all passengers but one. The passenger said that he paid Rs 9 but hadn’t been issued a ticket by the conductor.

A month later, during the departmental inquiry the passenger reached with a ticket, incidentally belonging to the same series that was distributed by the Patel during the check. However, after the inquiry, the conductor was held guilty and punished with reduction in salary.

Patel unsuccessfully approached the industrial tribunal in Navsari and then alos the Gujarat high court, where his advocate submitted that the punishment was not required looking at the evidence on record during the inquiry. The advocate also contended that the punishment was too harsh for a minor offence and that Patel had 37 years of service left and reducing his pay and putting him on fixed-pay on permanent basis will cause him a loss of Rs 15 lakh.

To counter the conductor’s arguments, GSRTC’s lawyer informed the court that Patel had been found guilty of defaulting at least 35 times, but had been let off with mere warnings and minor penalties.

After looking into the persistent misconduct of the employee, the department took the decision to reduce his pay and to fix his salary on a permanent basis. After hearing the arguments, the high court turned down Patel’s petition in February and rejected a later appeal.

Read this report in Bengali

