Holding that “nobody can be condemned unheard”, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Srinagar Bench, has quashed an order that dismissed a Jammu & Kashmir police constable from service because he remained absent from work.

Members MS Latif and Prasant Kumar were hearing a plea filed by a man who was dismissed from service without being heard in the departmental inquiry because he did not report for duty after getting released on temporary bail in an NDPS ( Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances ) Act case.

“We belong to the largest democracy in the world, which is governed by the mighty Constitution, and nobody is above the law, whosoever, be it high or low, and we do not belong to any colonial regime. There is equality before the law which has to be maintained, as we are bound by the Constitution of India.…