G S SANDHU Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment would dispose of two writ petitions No. 12793 and 15418 of 1998 as common questions of law and facts are involved in both these cases. Facts are being taken from CWP No. 15418 of 1998.

(2.) PETITIONER was commissioned in the Army. Service on September 6, 1970 in the Gorkha Regiment of Indian Army. During the course of his service career the petitioner earned promotions to various ranks and the last rank to which the petitioner was promoted is Lieut. Colonel and that the petitioner had never been indicted in respect of his integrity and honesty.

(3.) ON June 29, 1996, the petitioner in the normal course of his duty had gone to State Bank of India Leh, which is defined as a Government Treasury for drawing the amount for disbursing to the units/formations as aforesaid. In all, nine units/formations had submitted their requests for drawing the money accordingly. The representatives of the units/formations had also reached for collecting their requisitioned amount. One such officer i.e. Captain Deepak Gaur of 15 Rajput Regiment was also present for collecting money for the unit/formations of 102 Infuitry Brigade. He was to collect a sum of Rs. 2,18,10,000/ - as per the requisition. The representatives of the units including Captain Deepak Gaur had been told to be present in the bank premises for collecting the requisitioned amount respectively from the Bank premises itself after the same is drawn by the petitioner. The petitioner drew a total sum of Rs. 4,36,00,000/ - for disbursement to the various representatives of the units/formations as per the requisitions. Captain Deepak Gaur collected the amount of Rs. 2,18,10,000/ - after reconciling the same with the requisitioned figure and upon counting, the said amount was kept in a box in which the said amount was to be carried from the premises to the location of the formation. The process, procedure and the practice was duly adhered to and that the bundles of notes of the denomination of Rs. 500/ - and Rs. 100/ -were duly noted by the officer concerned and upon due confirmation and verification, the amount total of which came to be Rs. 2,18,10,000/ - was delivered which in turn was confirmed in token of having receipted. It shall be apposite to notice that as per the averment Captain Deepak Gaur was the first one to receive the payment, meaning thereby, the amount was received by him in the present of other officers. It is also averred that no officer after collecting the amount was allowed to leave the bank premises till the entire payment had been disbursed to the other officers accordingly. It is after the disbursement of the total amount to the officers as per their requisitions, all the them left the premises along with the requisitioned amount.