Bigamy and the Civil Servant

In a far-reaching order, the Delhi High Court said that bigamy cannot cause a government servant to lose his job as ethical standards had changed since the time the Conduct Rules were framed over 50 years ago

- Vivek K Agnihotri

ON March 19, 2021, upholding a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) decision to set aside the dismissal of Pankaj Choudhary, a Rajasthan cadre IPS officer of the 2009-batch, the Delhi High Court ruled that an act of bigamy cannot always lead to removal of a government servant from service. It said that many family affairs which were earlier a matter of public debate are now confined to the private domain.

The concept, definition and standards of morality have also been changing with changes in appearance, dressing, language, etc. The behaviour which shocked 50 years ago is now considered as normal and or at worst an aberration, a division bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Amit Bansal said in its ruling. The Court also said that ethical standards have changed since the time the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 were framed more than 50 years ago. What may have been unethical in 1968 is not necessarily unethical today and at least, not necessarily as severely unethical as it was in 1968, it said.

In 2016, a memo was served under the Conduct Rules on the IPS officer for having started living with a woman, and having a son with her despite a subsisting marriage and without any legal separation from his wife. He was dismissed from service in February 2019 by the Disciplinary Authority in consultation with the Union Public Service Commission. He was dismissed on grounds of “grave personnel misconduct” because he had “behaved so irresponsibly and in an ungentlemanly like fashion”. However, in December 2020, CAT revoked the order of the home ministry which had terminated the services of the officer.