Chandigarh, Sept. 11 -- The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has quashed the dismissal of four UT police personnel facing CBI corruption cases, observing that the seriousness of the allegations or registration of a criminal case alone cannot be a reason to remove a government employee without holding a departmental inquiry.

The tribunal said the authorities had failed to produce sufficient material to show that holding departmental inquiries against the personnel was not reasonably practicable. It observed that even the arrest of an employee in a criminal case does not automatically do away with the requirement of a departmental inquiry.

The four personnel had been dismissed from service by invoking Article 311(2)(b) of the Constit...