In Brief
A police orderly was discharged after remaining absent from duty for seven years following cerebral malaria and psychiatric illness. He produced a medical certificate from a psychiatrist (dated 1998) claiming mental incapacity during 1991–1998, but never submitted contemporaneous treatment records or appeared for official medical examination as repeatedly directed. The High Court substituted discharge with compulsory retirement. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that without contemporaneous medical records and official verification, the certificate was self-serving and could not justify the extreme penalty reduction. The respondent's seven-year absence and defiance of medical examination directives did not constitute exceptional circumstances warranting judicial interference with the disciplinary decision.
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