P C WADHWA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution came up in the original instance before my brother, Dulat, sitting singly. He was of the opinion that in view of the importance of the point raised in the petition it should be heard by a larger Bench. In this manner it has come before us.

(2.) THE petitioner is P. C. Wadhwa, a member of the Indian Police Service. He joined the police service on 3-10-1951 and was confirmed in this service on 30-11-1953. On 27-1-1958 he was promoted from the junior scale of this service to the senior scale as Officiating Superintendent of Police, Ferozepore. He was subsequently transferred as Additional Superintendent of police, Punjab Armed Police, at Ferozepore, this post incidentally involved a special pay of Rs. 100/ -. On 18-7-1958 a charge-sheet was served upon him and he was called upon to make a reply. The reply was submitted by him and an enquiry was ordered by an Enquiry Officer who was appointment in this benefit. Before the enquiry started, however, the petitioner was ordered to be posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police, which was his substantive rank, on 3-11-1958, and was posted at Amritsar. He brought the matter to this Court by means of a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution alleging that his reversion as Assistant Superintendent of Police amounted to reduction in rank and so the order reverting him attracted the provision of Article 311 of the Constitution. This writ petition was dismissed as premature as the petitioner had not availed himself of the right of appeal to the Central Government. He thereupon filed an appeal to the Central Government, but this was dismissed on 8-5-1959. A few weeks later on 21-6-1959 he presented a second petition which is now before us.

(3.) THE petitioner's case as submitted before us is that he was holding the officiating rank of the Superintendent of Police as of right, because a member of the Indian Police Service is entitled as of right to be promoted to a post in the senior scale whenever a vacancy arises and no one senior to him is available for the post. He could not be reverted from that post unless he was given adequate opportunity to show cause against his reversion as contemplated by Article 311 of he Constitution of unless the procedure prescribed by Rule 5 of the All Indian Service (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1955, was adopted. Inasmuch as no enquiry was held, although one had been ordered, the provisions of rule 5 as also the provisions of Article 311 of the Constitution were violated. In the second place, it was argued that the petitioner's reversion amounted to punishment for misconduct. The fact that a charge-sheet was framed and delivered to him and that an enquiry into these charges was ordered, made it quite clear that the petitioner's reversion was by way of punishment and not for "administrative reasons" as contemplated by Explanation (4) to rule 3 of the above mentioned Rules. Although the reversion was in anticipation of the finding of the Enquiry Officer, the reversion was really a kind of punishment.