In Brief
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) sought to remove an employee (Mukesh Shah) from service following his criminal conviction for fraud and corruption offences. The employee had already received a disciplinary penalty reducing his pay, and argued that LIC could not take further action. The High Court's division bench restrained LIC from proceeding until the criminal appeal was resolved. The Supreme Court allowed LIC's appeal, holding that under Regulation 39(4) of the LIC Staff Regulations, an employer may take independent disciplinary action based on a criminal conviction, even after imposing a prior penalty. Suspension of the employee's sentence (but not conviction) does not prevent such action, and no double jeopardy occurs under Article 20(2)."
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