False charge: Chennai bus conductor wins 5-year-long legal battle

Time of India

08-05-2025

CHENNAI: A bus passenger's mistaken act of picking up a soiled ticket from the floor spiralled into a
false misconduct charge
, illegal salary recovery, and a five-year
legal battle
for a
Metropolitan Transport Corporation
(MTC) conductor.
After years of struggle,
Madras high court
(HC) ordered a refund of the recovered amount and settlement of his terminal benefits.
The incident dates back to 2019, when a woman passenger at Chennai Central produced two tickets during a routine inspection - one valid and another soiled one she accidentally picked up from the bus floor.
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Mistaking it for ticket resale, the MTC's checking squad booked conductor
K Radhakrishnan
for misconduct. He alleged that fabricated documents were created to support the charge, leading to a memo against him.
After an internal inquiry, MTC reduced Radhakrishnan's basic pay by three stages with cumulative effect in Sept 2019. His appeal led to a modification - stoppage of increment for six months with cumulative effect. As he retired on Jan 31, 2020, the punishment could not be implemented. Instead, MTC recovered Rs 25,200 from his retirement benefits, claiming it was the monetary value of the unimplemented penalty.
With no response from MTC to his refund request, Radhakrishnan moved Madras HC in Sept 2020. During the trial, his counsel argued that the recovery had no legal backing under Certified Standing Orders applicable to MTC staff. The court agreed, citing division bench rulings that held such post-retirement recoveries as illegal and beyond jurisdiction.
Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad directed MTC to refund Rs 25,200 and clear all pending retirement dues with 6% annual interest. Welcoming the verdict, Radhakrishnan said, "Officials who impose unlawful punishments and fabricate documents should face disciplinary action, as such practices tarnish the institution and cause personal suffering to workers." The amount was credited to his bank acco-unt last week.