Timely completion of disciplinary proceedings initiated against officers and staff- attendance of witness: EPFO Order Dt. 28 Aug 2020

 Phone No.: 011/2617 2676, 26100251, 26178345

Fax:011-26715296
Email: cvo@epfindia.gov.in

VIGILANCE HEADQUARTERS
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation
(Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India)
14, Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi — 110066

No.Vig.XIV(03)2012/845

Date: 28 Aug 2020

To

All Addl. Central P.F. Commissioner
(HQ/Zones)/ACC (ASD) /Director (PDUNASS) /All
RPFCs in-charge/ROs/ZTIs.

Sub: Timely completion of disciplinary proceedings – attendance of witness-regarding.

Sir/Madam,

Of late, it has been observed that the finalization of disciplinary proceedings initiated against officers and staff of the department are getting delayed on various counts. Non-attendance of the inquiry proceedings by the listed witnesses is one of them, which defeats the very purpose of initiating the proceedings. The very purpose of the timely finalization of the disciplinary proceedings is to ensure that the delinquent officials neither get undue benefit due to long pending cases nor subjected to undue harassment if not found guilty at later stage.

2. In the disciplinary proceedings, sometimes EPFO officers/officials are listed as prosecution witnesses depending on the facts of the case. Recently, in some cases, it is seen that the EPFO officers/officials listed as Prosecution Witnesses are not attending the inquiry proceedings. In this connection, the guidelines issued by the DoP&T stipulated as under: –

“In case a Government official who has been named as a witness in a departmental proceeding fails to turn up, the matter may be reported to the higher authorities of the witness. Para 91 of P&T Manual provides that refusal to appear as witness can be construed as sufficient cause for initiating disciplinary proceedings against him.”

3. In this regard, I am directed to request you to ensure that the officers/officials who have been named as a witness in a departmental proceeding are directed to attend the inquiry without fail as and when summoned by the Inquiry Officer. It is also suggested that wherever a departmental officer/official is named as a witness, the officer/official may be relieved from his normal duties for the purpose of attending the inquiry for tendering evidence.

4. This issues with the approval of Chief Vigilance Officer.

Yours faithfully,

(Nisha O.V.)
Regional P.F. Commissioner-I (Vig.