The Bombay High Court recently quashed disciplinary proceedings against an 80-year-old former ONGC officer, holding that initiating action nearly a decade after the alleged misconduct “strikes at the root” of fairness and vitiates the entire process. A bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe also criticised the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for its “arbitrary and high-handed” approach in pursuing proceedings arising out of allegations dating back over three decades. The high court was hearing the plea of Rajinder Paul Bharadwaj, then appointed as manager in ONGC, who challenged the departmental proceedings resulting in a punishment of a reduction in rank by the appellate authority’s order of April 13, 2006.  “The inordinate delay in initiating disciplinary proceedings in the year 2001 against the Petitioner for an alleged violation in the year 1991, goes to the very root of the matter and that by itself vitiates the subsequent orders and actions taken against the petitioner,” the April…