TMI Blog1998 (9) TMI 667X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of compulsory retirement. Though he challenged the order before Central Administrative Tribunal (New Delhi Bench) he was unsuccessful. Hence he has filed this appeal by special leave. A resume of facts which led to the said necking off is the following: Appellant joined Indian Revenue Service in the year 1958 and was absorbed in the Excise Department. He has a quick rise in the ladder which in 1980 reached him to the level of Director Enforcement and in 1983 as Appellate Collector of Customs and Excise since he earned a high standard of reputation by then as a very good officer all round . As he proved to be efficient and trustworthy he was entrusted with the high sensitive post of Director of Anti Evasion Wing in 1984 which post he held till June 1985. During the said period a series of raids was conducted by Anti Evasion Squad headed by the appellant and a whopping sum of escaped excise duty was unearthed through such raids. This became the subject matter of extensive media coverage and praises were showered on the department for carrying out such daring operation in big business houses and hoarding places. But the above raids became the commencement of a v ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g to the aforesaid three instances (which were recorded in a document market by the department as Annexure IV) reached the following conclusion: On the basis of the specific cases and other material at Annexure IV hereto, he is found to be of unreliable integrity and unfit to be entrusted with any position of responsibility in the Government service as he has widely and systematically indulged in extortion of money from the parties and adopted methods which have the effect of bringing down the esteem of the Government in the public eye. The revenue Committee upheld the said conclusion and thereafter Government of India passed the order prematurely retiring the appellant. Appellant made a scathing attack against the aforesaid order mainly on three premises. (1) The big business houses whose premises were subjected to series of raids were so influenced as to spread canards about the appellant as part of a retaliatory measure against him. (2) The Screening Committee was actuated by mala fides as one of its members (Shri M.L. Wadhawan) who was a member of Central Board of Excise and Customs had been inimical to him on account of serious differences whic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a conclusion is primarily for the departmental authorities to decide. The nature of the delinquency and whether it is of such a degree as to require the compulsory retirement of the employee are primarily for the Government to decide upon. The courts will not interfere with the exercise of this power, if arrived at bona fide and on the basis of material available on the record. (emphasis supplied) Therefore, judicial scrutiny of any order imposing premature compulsory retirement is permissible if the order is either arbitrary or mala fide or if it is based on no evidence. The observation that principles of natural justice have no place in the context of compulsory retirement does not mean that if the version of the delinquent officer is necessary to reach the correct conclusion the same can be obviated on the assumption that other materials alone need be looked into. In this case, appellant made an endeavour to show that the order is tainted by mala fides as one of the members of the Screening Committee (M.L. Wadhawan) had some axe to grind against him. But we are not persuaded to believe that merely because appellant has such a version against either t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ? Is it that he would have taken too much pain to finish his work or is it that he would have caused it to be written by somebody else? Is there not a clear possibility that the officer hearing the adjudication case for several days would have prepared its prefatory portion as well as statement of evidence during the days when arguments were proceeding and before conclusion of the hearing, leaving out the crucial discussion to be dictated after conclusion of the hearing? That is not an objectionable course. If so, the achievement in preparing an order of confiscation within such a short span should not have been frowned at, instead there is scope to pay admiration fro its promptitude. Another lacuna is that he imposed a huge penalty and fine without issuing a show cause notice. To say that he did it for helping the defaulter is too far-fetched. The appellate authority which may be persuaded to set aside such an order on that ground could as well direct the authority to pass a fresh order after issuing the show cause notice. So it is unreasonable to conclude that the imposition of penalty was made calculatedly to have it upset by the superior authority. We feel t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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