TMI Blog1996 (5) TMI 424X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wife was also a teacher in the Central School at Bokaro Steel City. She was allotted on long lease a plot at Bokaro in the year 1980 for a sum of ₹ 20,000/- by the Steel Authority of India Limited (for short SAIL ). As per terms and conditions imposed by SAIL, shops in the ground floor and residence at first floor were constructed by the appellant with his earnings as well as the earnings of his wife. The construction was strictly under the supervision and on the drawings supplied freely by SAIL township authority. Subsequently the building was valued by SAIL township engineer at ₹ 4.75 lakhs. The appellant in the meanwhile got promotion and was functioning as Income-tax Officer A-Ward, Dhanbad from 1981 to 1985. It appears that in the course of discharge of his duties, he impounded the books of accounts of certain business people who seemed to have complained to the local Congress Party M.P. who in turn complained about the appellant to the Minister of Finance with a request to transfer the appellant and to order for a CBI inquiry. Accordingly, an FIR was lodged on 9.4.1986 and the appellant's residence and office were raided on 11.4.86. However, nothing worth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on. The appellant again moved the Central Administrative Tribunal, Patna for promotion and other reliefs which in turn directed the revocation of the order of suspension and also to release all increments from 1987 onwards and for opening of the sealed cover in which the appellant's promotion order had been placed by the Department. That order of the CAT was challenged by the Department in this Court and this Court dismissed the Special Leave Petition on 14.10.91. Simultaneously the appellant was given a departmental charge-sheet containing identical charges. For more than two years no progress was made by the Department as no Inquiry Officer was appointed. Again, the appellant was forced to move the CAT, Patna for quashing the departmental charge- sheet. A direction was given by the CAT, Patna on 22.2.1993 to complete the departmental enquiry by 15.5.1995. The departmental enquiry was conducted by Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission after a detailed enquiry submitted a report exonerating the appellant of all the charges. The Department forwarded the report of the Central Vigilance Commission for the opinion of the Union Public Service Commission. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mplete the departmental enquiry by 15.5.1995. The departmental enquiry was conducted by Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission after a detailed enquiry submitted a report exonerating the appellant of all the charges. The Department forwarded the report of the Central Vigilance Commission for the opinion of the Union Public Service Commission. By a long report, the Union Public Service Commission concurred with the conclusion of exonerating the appellant of all the charges. Accepting the report of the Union Public Service Commission, the President passed the final orders in favour of the appellant. In spite of that we are informed that the appellant has not got the full retrial benefits. Now reverting to the merits of the case it is the contention of the learned counsel for the appellant that in view of the clear reports of the Central Vigilance Commission and the Union Public Service Commission concerning identical departmental charge, there is absolutely nothing for the prosecution to proceed further. He also submitted that notwithstanding the direction of the High Court to the Special Judge to hold a preliminary enquiry before taking cognizance of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l for the respondent could not but accept the position that the standard of proof required to establish the guilt in a criminal case is far higher than the standard of proof required to establish the guilt in the departmental proceedings. He also accepted that in the present case, the charge in the departmental proceedings and in the criminal proceedings is one and the same. He did not dispute the findings rendered in the departmental proceedings and the ultimate result of it. On these premises, if we proceed further then there is no difficulty in accepting the case of the appellant. For if the charge which is identical could not be established in a departmental proceedings and in view of the admitted discrepancies in the reports submitted by the valuers one wonders what is there further to proceed against the appellant in criminal proceedings. In this context, we can usefully extract certain relevant portions from the report of the Central Vigilance Commission on this aspect. Neither the prosecution nor the defence has produced the author of various reports to confirm the valuation. The documents cited in the list of documents is a report signed by two engineers namely S/Sh. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g of the cost of index 5-% was added to the rate of ₹ 290/ as per page 55 of Ex. D-1 by Sh. S.N. Jha but this has been raised to 97% as an esclanation to the cost of index in Ex.S-20 without explaining or giving the reasons therefore. It is surprising that same set of engineers have adopted different standard for evaluating the same property at different occasions. Obviously, either of the report is false and it was for the prosecution to suitably explain it. In the absence of it the only inference to be drawn is that report at Ex-S-20 is not authentic. Since the same set of engineers have done the evaluation earlier and if subsequently they felt that there was some error in the earlier report, they should have explained detailed reasons either in the report itself or during the course of enquiry. Therefore, Ex.S-20 is not reliable. 20. Moreover a perusal of Ex. S-20 reveals that Sh. Vasudev, Executive Engineer has recorded a note as follows : Hence the valuation of Sh. S.N.Jha was never superceded by any other estimates. As is confirmed from the records, his estimated figures were only accounted for by the ITO Bokaro . Thus according to Sh. Vadusev, who ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... plicant, Shri P.S. Rajya, were more than the assets acquired by him and, therefore, the charge of acquisition of assets disproprotionate to income does not stand proved. A copy of the advice of the Commissioner is enclosed. The Commission have also advised that the ends of justice would be met by exonerating the charged Officer, Shri P.S. Rajya. The President has given careful consideration to the facts and records of the case and advice of the UPSC. The President has come to the conclusion that the advice of the UPSC be acepted. It is, therefore, held that the Articles of charge framed against Shri Rajya has not been proved. The President is, therefore, pleased to exonerate Shri Rajya, AIT (Retd.) of the charges framed against him and drop the proceedings initiated against him. We are inclined to think that the above extracts give a correct picture about the issue. At the risk of repetition, we may state that the charge had not been proved and on that basis the appellant was cleared of departmental enquiry. In this connection, we may also usefully cite a decision of this Court in State of Haryana and Others vs. Bhajan Lal and Others (1992 Supp.(1) SCC 335). This Court afte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the provisions of the Code or the concerned Act (under which a criminal proceeding is instituted) to the institution and continuance of the proceedings and/or where there is a specific provision in the Code or the concerned Act, providing efficacious redress for the grievance of the aggrieved party. (7) Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private an personal grudge. We also give a note of caution to the effect that the power of quashing a criminal proceeding should be exercised very sparingly and with circumspection and that too in the rarest of rare cases; that the court will not be justified in embarking upon an enquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR or the complaint and that the extraordinary or inherent powers do not confer an- arbitrary jurisdiction on the court to act according to its whim or caprice. The present case can be brought under more than one head given above without any difficulty. The above discussion is sufficie ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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