JAYANTILAL LALJIBHAI KOTECHA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution is directed against the judgment and order dated 30.08.2006 of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ahmedabad in Original Application No. 532 of 2005 whereby the Tribunal rejected the Original Application and declined to stay the departmental proceedings initiated against the petitioner herein, Superintendent of Central Excise Division department of Central Excise and Custom at Jamnagar, during pendency of a criminal case.

(2.) The petitioner was served with the charge-sheet in the departmental inquiry on 08.12.2003 with the charge that on 14.01.2001, the petitioner was found in possession of cash disproportionate to the known sources of his income. Rs. 1,38,500/- was found from the petitioner's Car parked at the Ahmedabad airport. The petitioner was also found to be carrying Rs. 10,220/- in his brief case which was lying at the inspector's room at the airport. The petitioner was also found to be having original foreign passport of a UK Citizen at the time of search. The petitioner could not give any satisfactory explanation regarding the possession of the above cash and passport.

(3.) The Central Bureau of Investigation had already instituted FIR regarding the above incident on 14.01.2001 itself. It appears that some time was taken by the department for granting sanction for prosecution which came to be accorded on 30.01.2004 and accordingly, charge-sheet under Section 477A /34 of IPC read with Sections 109 and 114 of IPC and Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) of the PREVENTION OF CORPORATION ACT, 1988 came to be submitted before the Criminal Court.