Where the Disciplinary Authority records a finding without any evidence or a finding which no reasonable person could have arrived at, the writ court would interfere

Supreme Court in the case of Allahabad Bank & Ors. v. Krishna Narayan Tewari [Civil Appeal No.7600 of 2014], it was held that the though “it is true that a writ court is very slow in interfering with the findings of facts recorded by a Departmental Authority on the basis of evidence available on record”, “but it is equally true that in a case where the Disciplinary Authority records a finding that is unsupported by any evidence whatsoever or a finding which no reasonable person could have arrived at, the writ court would be justified if not duty bound to examine the matter and grant relief in appropriate cases. The writ court will certainly interfere with disciplinary enquiry or the resultant orders passed by the competent authority on that basis if the enquiry itself was vitiated on account of violation of principles of natural justice, as is alleged to be the position in the present case. Non-application of mind by the Enquiry Officer or the Disciplinary Authority, non-recording of reasons in support of the conclusion arrived at by them are also grounds on which the writ courts are justified in interfering with the orders of punishment.”

It was further held that “in cases where the High Court finds the enquiry to be deficient either procedurally or otherwise the proper course always is to remand the matter back to the concerned authority to redo the same afresh. That course could have been followed even in the present case. The matter could be remanded back to the Disciplinary Authority or to the Enquiry Officer for a proper enquiry and a fresh
report and order. But that course may not have been the only course open in a given
situation. There may be situations where because of a long time lag or such other
supervening circumstances the writ court considers it unfair, harsh or otherwise
unnecessary to direct a fresh enquiry or fresh order by the competent authority.”[2017]