GUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE - …

1 GUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE - CONTENTSC hapterItemPage and of of of DISCIPLINARY of Natural and Review122 Annexures123-153 Policy ManualCHAPTER-1 DISCIPLINE AND means orderly behaviour - It means voluntary and willing compliance ofrules and regulations and instructions and also development of right habits of conductin work with others at the do we want Discipline?(a)Discipline is essential in any organisation for improving the employee morale aswell as to increase the productivity which is the ultimate goal of any organisation.(b)Discipline is of utmost importance for harmonious working with a view to achieveCompany s objectives.(c)It is moral responsibility of the employer not to allow the minority of employeeswho are indisciplined to affect the life of does Indiscipline arise?In most of the cases, indiscipline of a worker is the expression of his reaction to hisenvironment.

2 Usually the causes of indiscipline are :(a)Lack of awareness of Company s rules and regulations;(b)False promises made by superiors;(c)Absence of any PROCEDURE to handle grievances;(d)No action taken when required;(e)Personal frustrations and could be many other different reasons for indiscipline depending upon and Punitive actionSince any case of indiscipline is basically a behavioural problem, it is necessary thatbefore taking any punitive action, all efforts should be made to improve the behaviour ofthe employee by correcting him through education, counselling, persuasion andcoutioning. However, if all the efforts to improve the employee fail, the Supervisor/Man-ager should never hesitate to reprimand the employee and, if the misconduct is seriousor has been repeated, to report the matter to the superiors for appropriate FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDUREVOLUME-I96 Policy ManualCHAPTER-2 ACTS OF means improper conduct or wrongful behaviour.

3 However, while we are dealingwith employees in an organisation, the term misconduct has to be seen with reference tothe rules and regulations applicable to the various categories of employees working inthe POWER GRID CORPORATION, to decide whether a particular act of misconduct ornot, we have to keep in mind, the following three documents :(a)Conduct, Discipline & Appeal Rules(b)Service Rules(c)Contract/Agreement of Appointment or Appointment , Discipline & Appeal RulesThese are the rules framed by POWERGRID which are applicable to all employeesincluding deputationists. List of acts of misconduct as per Conduct, Discipline & AppealRules is as shown in Annexure A . RulesThese are the rules framed by POWERGRID, defining the terms and conditions of em-ployment and also prescribing the obligations of the employees. These are applicableto all the employees of POWERGRID except the deputationists unless the terms ofdeputation otherwise act committed by an employee in breach of Service Rules to the extent they areapplicable to him, will be considered an act of misconduct.

4 Hence, referring to ServiceRules is relevant in this of AppointmentBasically the appointment letter issued to an employee governs his employment withthe organisation. Hence, while taking a DISCIPLINARY action against any employee for anact of misconduct committed by him, the management has to keep in mind the termsand conditions stipulated in the offer of appointment given to the concerned employee,over and above which only the other rules and regulations will become applicable to theemployee FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE97 VOLUME-IPolicy ManualCHAPTER-3 REPORT OF is the starting point of any DISCIPLINARY action. For taking DISCIPLINARY actionagainst any employee for having committed an act of misconduct, the managementshould invariably get a specific written complaint. Complaint is nothing but a clear, se-quential narration of the facts of incidence of indiscipline by the complainant, in the formof a report to his any DISCIPLINARY action may go hay-way if the complaint is not proper, every com-plainant should bear in mind the following :(a)Do not rely on memory.

5 Reduce to writing whatever has happened, immediately.(b)Submit your complaint in the shape of report of misconduct without any delay tosuperiors.(c)Avoid dictating the complaint to somebody else.(d)Avoid type-writing the complaint, if possible. It is advisable to send it in hand writ-ing.(e)Do not add your impressions or guesses but narrate the actual facts.(f)Take written statements of all whoever has any facts relating to the complaint orwitnessed the Report of misconduct should invariably give the following details :(a)Full name of the person who committed the act of misconduct;(b)Designation;(c)Punch Card No.;(d) ;(e)Shift or Relay in which the employee was working;(f)Date and time of incident;(g)Place of occurrence;(h)Details of misconduct;(i)Names of witnesses, if any;(j)Recorded Statements, if Report of misconduct, the GUIDELINES suggested in Annexure-B might be FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDUREVOLUME-I98 Policy ManualCHAPTER-4 FLOW-CHART OF DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGSW ritten complaint(Report of misconduct)Preliminary EnquiryIf there is noprima facie case,drop the caseFraming charge-sheetunder CDA RulesIf the situation does notWarrant his immediateSuspension, theemployee will be onduty and we get onto the next stageOrder for paymentof subsistenceAllowanceSTAGE-1 STAGE-2 STAGE-3 STAGE-4 Suspension pendingEnquiry, if necessaryServing charge-sheetSTAGE-5 DirectServiceRegd.

6 PostUPCN oticeBoardsNewsPapersGUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE99 VOLUME-IPolicy ManualStudy the reply given byCharge-sheeted employeeIf the charge-sheetedEmployee pleads guiltyand reply is satisfactoryMajorMinorInnocent-PenaltyPe naltyexonera-tionProceedNo furtherwithenquiryenquiry orAwardPunishmentAward Punishment/Caution memoIf he does not plead guiltyand reply is unsatisfactory,proceed with the enquiryAppointment of EnquiryOfficer & Presenting OfficerServing Enquiry proceedingsNoticeBoardsIf the employee doesnot report for enquiry,Exparte enquiryEnhancementor reduction ofSubsistence allowanceIf the employee is foundnot guilty, exoneration& suspension revokalletter issuedEnquiry ReportSTAGE-7 STAGE-8 STAGE-9 STAGE-10 GUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURESTAGE-6 VOLUME-I100 Policy ManualIf the charge(s) are proved, check the pastrecord and if any conciliation or adjudica-tion proceedings are going on, checkIndustrial Disputes Act, provision.

7 Checkwhether protected workmanFinal show-cause notice beforePunishmentStudy the reply given by employee toFinal show-cause noticeGive clarifications, if any, asked for inreply to final show-cause noticePunishment OrderAppeal by the accused employeeReply to appeal and finalPunishment order/Dispoal of AppealImplementation of punishment orderand closing the fileContest the case if referred toconciliation/adjudicationSTAGE-11 STAGE-12 STAGE-14 STAGE-13 STAGE-15 STAGE-16 STAGE-17 STAGE-18 STAGE-19 GUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE101 VOLUME-IPolicy ManualCHAPTER-5 PRELIMINARY soon as a complaint is received, we should see whether it is worth dealing with in anelaborate manner by charge-sheeting the employee and conducting a domestic enquiryor not. This is determined by the gravity of the misconduct committed by the an act of misconduct has been committed and the DISCIPLINARY authority receives acomplaint, he should conduct a preliminary enquiry either himself or get it done by an-other Officer (Officer other than the one who has made the complaint or who is a witnessto the incident).

8 Preliminary enquiry is done with a view to decide whether there is ad-equate material for proceeding with a domestic enquiry. Domestic enquiry starts themoment a charge-sheet is issued and preliminary enquiry ends with the issue of charge-sheet. In all cases, preliminary enquiry is not essential. If the matter is obvious enough,the domestic enquiry can start with the issue of following are the differences between domestic enquiry and preliminary )Preliminary enquiry is not an essential step while domestic enquiry is a must fortaking DISCIPLINARY action for major penalty )Domestic enquiry aims at determining whether charges are established or not whilepreliminary enquiry is conducted for finding out whether a prima-facie case hasbeen made )Conclusions of preliminary enquiry lead to framing of charge-sheet while the reportof domestic enquiry forms the basis for awarding )Preliminary enquiry is not subject to any rules while conduct of domestic enquiry issubject to principles of natural FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDUREVOLUME-I102 Policy ManualCHAPTER-6 PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PROCEDURE for taking DISCIPLINARY action against any delinquent employee must bebased on principles of natural justice - which again are in conformity with the princi-ples of a Welfare hold an enquiry in conformity with the principles of natural justice, the following con-ditions are to be met :a)the employee proceeded against has been informed clearly of the charges lev-elled against him;b)the witnesses are examined ordinarily in the presence of the employee in respectof the Charges;c)the employee is given a fair opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses;d)the employee is given a fair opportunity to examine his own witnesses, includinghimself in his defence, if he so wishes.

9 E)the enquiry officer records his findings with reasons for the same in his FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE103 VOLUME-IPolicy on the basis of preliminary enquiry or otherwise, the DISCIPLINARY authority is satisfiedthat a prima-facie case exists and decides to take DISCIPLINARY action against the em-ployee concerned, the first thing to be done is to issue a charge-sheet to is a memorandum of charges or allegations levelled against the employeewhich are acts of misconduct as per the Conduct, Discipline and Appeal for preparation of Charge-SheetWhile framing a Charge-sheet, the following items may be kept in mind so that nothingrelevant would be missing from the Charge -sheet :a)Date of charge )Correct Name and Card No. of delinquent )Specify date of )Description of )Reproduce the language in verbatim if there are words of abuse, defamation )Give reference of relevant rules as Conduct, Discipline and Appeal )Specify within how much time and to whom the reply should be )Check the authority competent to issue the Charge-Sheet (See Conduct, Disci-pline and Appeal Rules or Delegation of Powers, as the case may be).

10 I)Decide whether employee is to be kept under suspension or )Decide whom to send the copies of for preparing Charge-Sheeta)The Charge-Sheet should be specific and must spell out all the relevant particu-lars of the )As far as possible, it should be precisely mentioned in the Charge-sheet as tounder which rule or clause, the charges constitute acts of misconduct so as toenable the employee as to which rules are applicable to him in this )The Charge-sheet must be signed by the competent authority so as to avoid facinga situation where the Charge-sheet is made invalid because it is signed by incom-petent authority. (Refer to schedule of Conduct, Discipline and Appeal Rules orDelegation of Powers, as the case may be). GUIDELINES FOR DISCIPLINARY PROCEDUREVOLUME-I104 Policy Manuald)Avoid loose usage of words such as Habitual and Wilful in the Charge-sheet. Donot use such qualifying words unless the charges are really )If the charge is of abusing or threatening, reproduce the exact words used in )Avoid using abbreviations such as etc.