VIJAY KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed for following reliefs:

(2.) Short facts of the case are that the petitioner was arrested in the trap case while he was posted as Station House Officer, Jandaha on 13/5/2003 and an F.I.R. was instituted against the petitioner bearing Vigilance F.I.R. No. 46 of 2013 for alleged demand and recovery of illegal gratification of amount of Rs.25,000.00. The aforesaid case is still pending. In the meanwhile, a departmental proceeding was also initiated against the petitioner which finally culminated into the order of punishment which stands affirmed in appeal and memorial and is put to question before this Court.

(3.) Among the several issues raised by learned counsel for the petitioner to question the order of dismissal passed by the disciplinary authority, one of the issues is to the effect that a memo of charge has been framed and issued by an authority who is not competent to issue the charge. In the present case, memo of charge has been issued by Superintendent of Police, Vaishali. It is the submission of the petitioner that proceeding has been initiated by Superintendent of Police, Vaishali while the disciplinary authority of the petitioner is Deputy Inspector General of Police/Inspector General of Police. The very initiation by an authority who is not competent to do so is illegal and that itself vitiates the entire departmental proceeding. In this connection, he places reliance upon paragraph Nos. 27 to 33 of the judgment passed by co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Uday Pratap Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors reported in 2017(4) pljr 195 which reads as follows: