Civil Service Personnel Rules

201. According to the findings by hearing the witnesses during the course of the departmental enquiry or according to the statements of the witnesses, the original charge may be altered or amended or added or a new charge may be framed by the Departmental Enquiry Board if it is found necessary. If the charge is altered or amended, the charged service personnel shall be allowed to take some more time to submit the written statement and also to produce the new list of witnesses and to recall the witnesses to examine.

202. The case with the circumstances mentioned under are exempted from applying the provisions contained in rules 194 to 201 concerning the formation of the Departmental Enquiry Board, framing the charge and holding verbal hearing by keeping a record of the reasons:
(a) the service personnel who is taken action is absconding;
(b) the service personnel who is taken action cannot be contacted;
(c) the service personnel who is taken action fails or refuses to be enquired without any sufficient reasons;
(d) it is difficult to apply any provisions regarding departmental enquiry on account of the extraordinary nature or circumstances of the case.

203. After the completion of the departmental enquiry, the Departmental Enquiry Board shall prepare the report as prescribed in Form (9) containing the summary of the case, charge, findings, remarks and recommendations to the head who has formed the Departmental Enquiry Board. The order of formation of the Departmental Enquiry Board, daily activity of the board, charge sheet, written statement, statements of witnesses and the documents relating to the enquiry shall be included in the case file of the departmental enquiry.

204. The board comprising three members shall be formed to scrutinize and make decision the report of the Departmental Enquiry Board. The head who has assigned to hold departmental enquiry shall perform as the chairperson of the said board. After scrutinizing the report, the board:
(a) may instruct the Departmental Enquiry Board to make further enquiry for the facts which are still necessary if it is considered that their findings are still insufficient;
(b) may form and assign a new Departmental Enquiry Board to hold the enquiry again if it is found that there was no justice due to the wrong procedures conducted by the Departmental Enquiry Board;
(c) shall close the case if the service personnel who is taken action is found innocent;
(d) if the service personnel who is taken action is found guilty, the penalty to be imposed in accord with the rule 212 as mentioned under:
(i) if the penalty to be imposed is under the authority of board which may decide the Departmental Enquiry Board, the decision shall be made in the relevant case file by describing what kind of penalty is imposed;
(ii) if the penalty to be imposed is necessary to be submitted to the superior authority, the board shall state the recommendation and submit it to authority concerned together with the case file.

205. In the decision of the departmental enquiry:
(a) it shall be stated that the service personnel is innocent and the closure of the case is closed if the service personnel who is taken action is found to be innocent.
(b) if the service personnel who is taken action is found guilty:
(i) it shall be stated for which charge he is guilty;
(ii) it shall be stated if the previous conviction has been taken into consideration;
(iii) it shall be stated which penalty is imposed;
(iv) it may be imposed one or more penalties for each charge;
(c) if the penalty is the one which is needed to specify the period or pay, it shall be stated in accordance with the provisions of rule 212;
(d) in the case where the service personnel who is taken action has been put under temporary suspension and if it is necessary to exempt from such temporary suspension, it shall be stated that the pay, allowance and duty hours to be allowed under sub-rule (a)of rule 68 or sub-rule (b) of rule 68.

206. The relevant service personnel organization shall issue the decision of the departmental enquiry and send it to the service personnel. In the order, it shall be stated that an appeal may be submitted within six months from the date of the receipt of the order as prescribed in Form 12 if the said service personnel is dissatisfied with such order.

207. The departmental enquiry shall be completed without delay for effective maintenance of disciplines and to avoid deficiency in performing departmental task. The head who has formed the Departmental Enquiry Board shall specify the period to enquire. Such period shall not exceed one year in any case. If the departmental enquiry cannot be completed within such specified period, the chairperson of the Departmental Enquiry Board shall seek the approval of the relevant head to extend the period one week in advance.

208. On request for extension of enquiry with sufficient reasons, the head who has formed Preliminary Enquiry Board or Departmental Enquiry Board shall extend the period as appropriate in extraordinary circumstances. The enquiry shall be completed within such extended period. No more extension is permissible after that.

Chapter XIX
Disciplinary Penalties

209. In taking departmental action, one or more than one penalties contained in section 53 of the Law may be imposed in accordance with the rules, regulations and by- laws.

210. The penalties imposed under rule 209 are:
(a) Written warning means the warning in writing by describing the offence committed by the service personnel. In imposing such penalty:
(i) the penalty of warning shall be stated together with the offence committed briefly;
(ii) the penalty period shall be ended on the date of completion of six months from the date of penalty imposition;
(iii) the promotion is not permissible during the penalty period;
(iv) the increment due is permissible during the penalty period;
(b) Withholding of increment means postponing the next increment of the service personnel for a specified period within the pay scale. In imposing such penalty, by considering the seriousness of the offence which is committed by the service personnel:
(i) the penalty period shall be specified. The penalty period shall be calculated from the commencing date on which the next increment is due;
(ii) it shall be specified whether the future increment will postpone or not; if the future increment will postpone, the period of postponing shall be specified;
(iii) the service personnel shall not be promoted during the waiting time for penalty and penalty period;
(c) Withholding of promotion means the postponing of the promotion of the service personnel for a specified period without promoting him on his turn to be generally promoted.In imposing such penalty:
(i) the penalty period shall be calculated from the commencing time of his turn for promotion. The penalty will take effect from that time;
(ii) the promotion shall be withheld only for completion of penalty period without causing to lose his opportunity for promotion;
(iii) the increment shall be permissible when it is due during the penalty period;
(iv) the position to be promoted shall not be reserved for the punished service personnel;
(d) Reduction of pay within pay scale means reduction the pay to the lower pay within the pay scale for a specified period by considering the seriousness of the offence committed by the service personnel. In imposing such penalty:
(i) it shall be specified to which pay is reduced within time scale pay;
(ii) the penalty period shall be specified;
(iii) the increment shall be withhold during the penalty period;
(iv) it shall be specified whether the future increment will postpone or not when the service personnel is allowed to enjoy the original level of pay at the end of the penalty period.If the future increment will postpone, the period of postponing shall be specified;
(v) the promotion shall be withheld during the penalty period;
(e) Demotion means demotion to the immediate lower post for a specified period. In imposing such penalty:
(i) the service personnel who is taken action shall not be demoted to the immediate lower post of initially appointed post or to the immediate lower post in a different category of posts;
(ii) the penalty period shall be specified according to the seriousness of the offence obviously found;
(iii) it shall be specified that any pay within the pay scale of the demoted position not exceeding the maximum pay is allowed to enjoy. The service personnel shall enjoy only the specified pay during the penalty period;
(iv) at the end of the penalty period, the service personnel shall be reinstated to the original position or to the post of the same rank in other category or to the post of identical time scale pay. It shall be specified whether the future increment will postpone or not in the post to which the service personnel is reinstated.If the future increment will postpone, the period of postponing shall be specified;
(f) Compensation for the loss means compensation of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss by negligence or breach of orders and directives. The amount of money to be paid shall be fixed by considering the extent to which the relevant service personnel has to take responsibility for the loss and his ability to pay. This penalty shall be imposed with care to avoid the inability of the service personnel to perform duties due to financial difficulty resulting from the large amount to pay in compensation for the loss;
(g) Not permitting full pay for temporary suspension period or not treating such suspension period as on duty means causing loss of benefits of the service personnel by not permitting full pay and allowance for temporary suspension period or by not treating that suspension period as on duty when the service personnel is found guilty after the completion of the case although the temporary suspension of the service personnel who is taken departmental action is not a penalty under the conditions contained in rule 68. The penalty will take effect from the time of suspension. In imposing such penalty:
(i) temporary suspension before the completion of the case under rule 172 is just an administrative action and not a disciplinary penalty. However, the service personnel is found guilty after the completion of the case, when the service personnel is not permitted full pay during the temporary suspension period or when the suspension is not treated as on duty which results in loss of benefits such as term of service which is calculated for pension or other service personnel rights, the temporary suspension becomes a penalty;
(ii) if the temporary suspension is cancelled and an appropriate penalty is to be imposed, the duration of temporary suspension, loss and damaged reputation of the service personnel on account of temporary suspension should be taken into consideration;
(h) Removal from the post means the removal of the service personnel from his current post on account of the severe penalty convicted by a court or the habitual nature of commission of the offence. In imposing this penalty:
(i) the service personnel removed from the post shall lose pay and allowances as well as the term of service and pension from the date of removal. However, a gratuity may be applied in accordance with the existing rules, regulations and by -laws;
(ii) the service personnel removed from the post may be reappointed later as a service personnal with the approval of the head of service personnel organization;
(i) Dismissal from service personnel means dismissal of the service personnel who is not appropriate to keep in the service personnel organization on account of the misconduct, breach of disciplines, failure to fulfill a duty, or being convicted severe penalty by a court. In imposing this penalty:
(i) the service personnel who has been dismissed shall lose pay and allowance as well as the term of service and pension from the date of removal;
(ii) the service personnel who has been dismissed shall not be reappointed in any service personnel organization.