KRISHNA BALLABH SAHAY Vs. COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appeal shall stand dismissed, but there shall be no order as to costs. Reasons for our judgment will follow. Stay order is vacated.

(2.) The following Judgment of the Court was delivered by

(3.) As is common knowledge there was for a time no stable Government in Bihar. The Congress Ministry continued in office for some time under Mr. Binodanand Jha and then under the first appellant, Mr. K. B. Sahay. When the Congress Ministry was voted out of office, a Ministry was formed by the United Front Party headed by Mr. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha. The United Front Ministry also resigned on 25th January, 1968 and another Ministry was formed by the Shoshit Dal headed by Mr. B. P. Mandal. This Ministry also went out of office on March 22, 1968 to be succeeded by another headed by Mr. Bhola Paswan Shastri. During the continuance of the Congress Ministry Mr. Mahamaya Prasad Sinha helped by Mr. Kamakhya Narain Singh and his brother Mr. Basant Narain Singh and others were in opposition. When the United Front Ministry emerged these opponents became Ministers. The Ministry began to function from March 5,1967. On March 17, 1967, the Governor announced in his speech that an inquiry would be made against the conduct of some of the Ministers who had gone out of office including the present appellants. It appears that the Council of Ministers then constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee on July 22, 1967 to make a preliminary examination of the allegations and the materials relating to them. The upshot was a notification issued by the Governor of Bihar under S. 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act on October 1, 1967 by which inquiry was ordered against the appellants and two others (Mr. Raghavendra Narain Singh and Mr. Ambika Sharan Singh). The commission was directed to inquire into and report on the following matters, namely: