M.S.PRAVEEN Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner. Petitioner is before this Court being aggrieved by the order of the tribunal dtd. 26/3/2022 rendered in application No.3346/2021.

(2.) The case of the respondents is that the petitioner who is presently discharging duties as an FDA, during discharge of his duties was subjected to trap proceedings. A trap was laid by the ACB on 10/3/2020 and registered an FIR in Crime No.4/2020 and pursuant to the trap, the petitioner was held with an amount of Rs.40,000.00 being the illegal gratification amount. That two years thereafter, the articles of charges have been initiated and pursuant to the suspension, the promotion of the petitioner has been withheld and kept in a sealed cover. That the petitioner who is otherwise is entitled to be an FDA, has been bypassed and the fate of the petitioner has been kept in a sealed cover by the DPC. The learned counsel would vehemently deny the trap and would contend that it is a motivated action and hence, the same should be ignored and the case of the petitioner should be considered de-hors the alleged trap proceedings and articles of charges has more than two years have lapsed by. The learned counsel for the petitioner would place reliance on the ruling of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Harsh Kumar Sharma, IFS Vs. State of Punjab and Another, reported in (2017) 4 SCC 366 and would take this Court through paragraph Nos.24 to 26, which reads as under:-

(3.) We have no quarrel with the dictum of the Hon'ble Apex Court and the law laid down therein. But the fact remains that it was a case where several years had passed by and several others who were allegedly the main perpetrators of the crime had been absolved in one way or the other and in those circumstances, keeping in view the long passage of time and the other parties having been let go scot-free, the Hon'ble Apex Court deem it fit to consider as above. In the instant case, alleged incident is of the year 2020 and articles of charges have already been issued, in that view of the matter, we are of the considered opinion that the instant petition could be disposed off without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and binding the respondents to complete the enquiry proceedings, within a further period of six months from the date of receipt of the copy of this order.