Judgment

Mrs. Sujata V. Manohar, J.-At the material time the appellant was the Assistant Manager of the respondent-Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation (KSSIDC), Bangalore. He was also the President of the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation Em­ployees’ Welfare Association, Bangalore.

2. On 3rd of June, 1977 the appellant addressed a letter to the Gover­nor of Karnataka on behalf of the Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation Employees’ Welfare Association in which he stated that the KSSIDC Corporation was likely to be wound up on ac­count of bad administration, corruption and nepotism. He said that till 1977 the Corporation was running at a profit. However, since then it was sustaining continuous losses. In the letter it was alleged that several persons were being appointed in the Corporation who were not properly qualified at the instance of political leaders and ministers. The letter set out some instances of these kinds of appointments. There were also allegations in the letter about the nexus between contractors for various projects and the management of the Corpora­tion. There were also some allegations about cement purc