Dear Annonymous,
It seems your place of work is Malaysia. I am giving opinion based on experience with Indian Operations and law applicable. However the principle will be mostly same.
The Disciplinary action can be taken by the authorities as identified by Standing Orders or the provisions of the information which is shared with the employees in general.
To avoid this it is best to reqeust the Appointing Authority, who has signed the Appointment letter of the deliquent employee. Suppose a show cause notice is to be signed then it should be signed by the same authority, who had signed the appointment letter for the deliquent employee.
The other practice is disciplinary action should be initiated by a person who is working at higher level than the deliquent employee.
The person who is signing show cause notice may satisfy himself that the said matter merits disciplinary action.
Hope this clarifies the position.