RAM CHANDRA SHUKLA Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution has been filed for quashing of order dated 17.4.1997 by which the petitioner was dismissed from service.

(2.) The petitioner was member of Higher Judicial Service and at the relevant time, was posted as Additional District and Sessions Judge at Etah. A disciplinary enquiry was held against him by a Sitting Judge of the High Court with regard to certain acts of misconduct. The charges were found to have been established. A copy of the report of the Inquiry Judge was furnished to the petitioner and he was given an opportunity to show cause. The matter was then considered by the full court which recommended that he should be dismissed from service. Thereafter, the Governor of U.P. passed the impugned order of dismissal on 17.4.1997.

(3.) The charges against the petitioner related to grant of ball in two murder cases being Case Crime No. 15 of 1994 and Case Crime No. 23 of 1994. In Case Crime No. 15 of 1994 of P.S. Kashganj, the allegation was that the accused Poo ran assaulted the deceased Ganga Singh alias Gajraj with a knife. In order to save himself, the deceased ran towards a police outpost which was nearby but he fell down almost in front of the outpost. Some police personnel who were present in the outpost saw the accused chasing the deceased and they caught him on the spot with a blood stained knife in his hand. The incident took place at about 12.30 p.m. (afternoon) and an entry regarding the arrest of the accused was made in the general diary. The accused Pooran applied for the bail but his ball application was rejected by the Incharge Sessions Judge. Etah, on 6.4.1994. He filed a bail application in the High Court which was also rejected on 28.11.1994. However, shortly thereafter the petitioner entertained a second ball application directly in his Court and granted ball to the accused on 6.2. 1995. In Case Crime No. 23 of 1994, the incident took place at about 9.30 a.m. on 9.3.1994 in which Narain Das and Manohar accused were alleged to have fired upon Ganga Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Chandra Shekhar received gunshot injuries and Ganga Singh died on way to the hospital. The bail application moved by the accused was rejected by the 1st Addl. Sessions Judge on 30.9.1994. A second bail application was moved for short term ball but the same was also rejected on 9.2.1995, Narain Das accused also filed a bail application in the High Court which was pending. The District and Session Judge had passed a general order on 28.1.1995 that no bail application should be directly entertained by an Addl. Sessions Judge. However, a third bail application was filed by the accused on 5.2.1995 which was directly entertained by the petitioner and he granted ball to both the accused on 16.2.1995. After obtaining the order of bail, the accused got their bail application in the High Court, which had been filed earlier and was pending, dismissed on 21.2.1995 as not pressed.