No relief to sacked CISF guard for sleeping while on duty, plea rejected

The Bombay High Court has refused to grant any relief to a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guard who was dismissed for sleeping while on duty. He was posted at Mouda Thermal Power Plant in Nagpur.

The High Court noted that the constable was a member of a disciplined security force deployed for the security of an establishment of public importance. With this remark, a bench of High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Abhay Ahuja rejected the constable's application on Tuesday. Constable Santosh Ramesh was dismissed from the CISF in March 2021 on charges of indiscipline and sleeplessness on duty. Ramesh was posted as a guard at a watchtower at the thermal power station in Nagpur.

Senior officers of the security forces found him asleep while on night duty. Earlier too, Ramesh was warned for indiscipline and gross dereliction of duty. Ramesh, in his petition, had sought relief saying that the punishment of dismissal was not commensurate with the seriousness of the offense alleged to have been committed by him.

Dismissing the petition, the High Court observed that constable Ramesh could have been judged sympathetically if he proved that he slept while on duty due to loss of sleep control. This was not his isolated case of negligence in the discharge of his duty. He was found negligent in the past as well but was then let off with a warning.