V R KATARKI Vs. HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a judicial Officer of the Judicial Department of the State of Karnataka. He belongs to the cadre of a Civil Judge. He is facing serious charges of misconduct alleged to have been committed by him in the course of discharge of his duties and performance of his functions as a Civil Judge. He has now been served with the Articles of charge as per Annexure- A under the provisions of the Karnataka Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957 [hereinafter referred to as 'the Rules.

(2.) In this petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner has sought for quashing the articles of charge Annexure 'A'. The petit oner has also sought for a mandamus due cting the first respondent to reinstate him with all consequential benefits to which he would otherwise have been entitled to of course, he has also prayed for the records, mentioned in Prayer para 26(1) and (ii) of the writ petition to be called for. Similar prayer to call for the records has also been made in the application I.A.No. 1 filed by him, which will be dealt with at the appropriate stage.

(3.) The aforesaid reliefs are sought for on the following three principal grounds i.e.. Articles of charge are vitiated (i) because of legal malice on the part of the first respondent; (ii) because they are based upon the report made by the 2nd respondent which, according to the petitioner, is malicious ;(iii) because they do not disclose misconduct.