STATE OF HARYANA Vs. SOM DATT EX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This second appeal by the State of Haryana has arisen out of a suit filed by the respondent for a declaration that the order of his dismissal from service dated September 1, 1967 was illegal, ineffective and void The suit was dismissed by the trial Court but, on appeal, its judgment was reversed by the learned Senior Sub-Judge, Ambala, vide judgment dated August 11, 1971. Aggrieved thereby the State has come up in this second appeal.

(2.) The order of dismissal was challenged on a number of grounds but the only ground which prevailed with the lower Appellate Court is that the respondent was not provided with adequate opportunity to defend himself inasmuch as copies of the Daily Diary Report and the complaint which formed the basis of the charge were never supplied to him. The learned Senior Sub Judge for his finding relied on a number of decisions including the one by the Supreme Court in State of Madhya Pradesh Y. Chintaman Sadashiva Waishampayan, A I.R. 1961 S.C. 1623-.

(3.) The only argument advanced by the learned counsel for the State of challenge the impugned judgment was that the Enquiry Officer had not refused to supply a copy of the complaint to the respondent and had instead told him to secure the same on payment of requisite charges. I am afraid it is not possible to agree with this contention. A delinquent officer is entitled to get all the documents and the statements of the witnesses upon which the State wants to rely during the course of the enquiry. Refusal to supply copies of the complaint without payment was, therefore, rightly held to be a denial of adequate opportunity to the respondent to defend himself. No fault, therefore, can be for and with the finding of the lower Appellate Court and this appeal is accordingly dismissed. No costs.