Calcutta High Court has asked the motor vehicles department of the state government to probe the alleged misconduct of an inspector who retired from service 13 years ago.

A division bench of Justice Asim Banerjee and Justice Sankar Prasad Mitra also directed the department on Friday to “take action in accordance with law” against the employee if he is found guilty.

Sunil Kumar Mukherjee retired from service on December 31, 1993, as motor vehicles inspector. He had been issued a chargesheet on December 7 for allegedly taking bribes for issuing pollution-under-control certificates.

When he was called to depose before an inquiry a day before his retirement, Mukherjee claimed that he had not received any chargesheet.

In April 1994, he moved a petition before the state administrative tribunal to challenge the legality of the chargesheet, arguing that the department had no right to frame charges against him “after his retirement”.

The department could not stop Mukherjee’s pension as the departmental proceedings were incomplete.

In 2003, the administrative tribunal restrained the department from conducting the probe against Mukherjee.

The motor vehicles department then moved the high court, challenging the tribunal’s ruling. Mukherjee submitted before the court that he had not received any chargesheet from the department while in service.

Appearing on behalf of the department, advocate Alok Ghosh told the division bench of justices Banerjee and Mitra that six other officials of the department got copies of the chargesheet by December 14, 1993.

“Mukherjee has been denying having received a copy to avoid inquiry,” Ghosh said.

Hearing both sides, the court asked the department to start the probe afresh.