Supreme Court Quashes Termination of Jharkhand Teachers Over Uncommunicated Charges

The Supreme Court set aside the termination of two Jharkhand teachers, Ravi and Prem Lal, holding that they were dismissed on grounds not mentioned in the original show cause notice.

A Division Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and K.V. Viswanathan held that punishing them for a separate, uncommunicated charge violated due process.

Although the teachers had defended the initial allegation of insufficient marks, they were penalised based on a different calculation method.

The Court ordered their reinstatement with full back pay and seniority, noting the termination was arbitrary and unlawful, but clarified that the intervening period wouldn’t count toward teaching experience.

[Ravi Oraon v The State of Jharkhand & Ors]