V D JHINGAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Section 561a, Criminal P. C. praying that the criminal proceedings pending before Sri B. N. Zutshi, Special Judge, Anticorruption be quashed. The applicant in this case is Sri V. D. Jhingan who was employed as Assistant Director, Enforcement, by the President of India in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on 25-3-1949.

(2.) THE prosecution case is that on 11-9-1951 the applicant accepted' a sum of Rs. 10,000/- as the first instalment out of an agreed total of Rs. 30,000/- as an illegal gratification for recommending to the 'district Magistrate, Kanpur, that the cloth licence issued to one Sri Sidh Gopal may not be cancelled. Thus charge was investigated by the Special Police Establishment, Delhi who recovered this amount from the applicant. The prosecuting agency then applied for sanction to prosecute the applicant but the Ministry of industry and Commerce instead of granting the sanction at that stage decided to bold an enquiry under Rule 55, Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules. This decision was communicated to the prosecuting agency on 26-8-1952 and on its basis a final report was submitted in the court of Sri. Girja Shankar Misra, the Anti-corruption Magistrate at Lucknow, before whom the case was pending. Sri Misra accepted the report and discharged the applicant. His- bail bonds were also cancelled and the sum of Rs. 10,000/- recovered from him was also ordered to be returned.

(3.) THE departmental enquiry against the applicant continued till September 1953 and as the charges were found to be proved, the applicant was dismissed from service on 25-11-1953. The delhi Police again arrested the applicant on 30-1-1954 and in February 1954 the charge that was withdrawn earlier was again pressed against the applicant. This prosecution is now pending before Sri B. N. Zutshi, the Anti-Corruption Judge and it is against this prosecution that the applicant has filed this application.