R.K.TIWARI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner, who had been a Naik in the Central Reserve Police Force for a period of almost 10 years, challenges his dismissal from service and the validity of orders of the appellate and other higher authorities upholding the same on the grounds of bias, illegalities and irregularities in the course of disciplinary proceedings, denial of opportunity to defend and harshness of the penalty.

(2.) The petitioner was charged with "disobedience", "neglect of duty", "remissness in the discharge of duty or other misconduct in his capacity as a member of the Force", in that,

(3.) The first ground of attack is based on the allegation that Lt. Col. V. K. Sahni, Commandant of the Battalion, in which the petitioner was working at the material time, and who initiated the departmental proceedings against the petitioner, issued to him the show cause notice proposing the penalty of dismissal and eventually imposed the penalty, was hostile to the petitioner in that the petitioner had in a representation to the higher authorities against his suspension made serious allegations against the said Commandant to the effect that the said Commandant had asked for illegal favour from the petitioner when the petitioner was Mess Commander of the Battalion. The petitioner was, however, unable to produce a copy of the representation or to point to any material which may justify the allegation that he had made any such allegations against the Commandant or to otherwise point out the circumstances which may justify the allegation of hostility or bias. It is not without significance that the allegation of hostility or bias was made by the petitioner for the first time in this Court ard there was no reference to it or to the allegations on which it was based in any of the departmental proceedings, including the appeals and the revisions to the various authorities. There is, therefore, no substance in this ground.