In Brief
The Union of India challenged the High Court's judgment finding illegal the termination of an employee from service based on his non-disclosure of involvement in a criminal case at entry. The Supreme Court held that where a criminal case is trivial in nature and the employee has already served substantially (here, five years), the employer cannot automatically terminate service. Instead, the employer must allow the employee to represent their case and consider relevant circumstances including the nature of the case, age at the time of incident, and conduct during service before passing a reasoned decision. The Court set aside the High Court's judgment and remitted the matter for reconsideration by the Appointing Authority."
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