DALJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will dispose of the present and two connected writ petitions arising out of orders of dismissal from service by resort to article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution of India in a jailbreak case. The facts are taken from CWP No. 2881 of 2007 for convenience. The petitioners were working either as Assistant Superintendent or Warders in the Punjab Jails Department and were posted at the relevant time at Central Jail., when two undertrials escaped from judicial custody with the help of a bamboo stick of about 12 feet used as a construction material and with the help of which, the undertrials scaled the 16 foot tall jail wall and made good their escape. The charge against the petitioner was that he was the in-charge of the construction material which included ropes, pipes etc and the notorious bamboo pole. The incident occurred on the night of 26th/27th January, 2007 between 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. The State reasoned that had the petitioner warder No. 392 (Balbir) been vigilant and sincere towards his duty, the undertrials may not have managed to escape from the jail using the bamboo stick obtained from the construction site within the jail premises. They were dismissed from service on 1st February, 2007.

(2.) Resort to power under Article 311(2)(b) has been justified by the Director General of Police-cum-Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, Chandigarh in the following way:--

(3.) A reading of the entire order and its operative part reproduced above discloses that no reasons have been recorded in the order as to why the petitioner was dismissed from service without holding an enquiry against him. The other order is in the same strain. Furthermore, the subjective satisfaction of the competent authority to dispense with departmental enquiry is not based on any material leaving aside any objective assessment of the material available from where such a prima facie finding could be reasonably arrived at.