Judgment

MUDHOLKAR, J.: This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment of the Punjab High Court dismissing the appellants petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution.

2. The appellant was appointed a qanungo in the former State of Pepsu in the year 1950. On December 1,1953 he was appointed Assistant Consolidation Officer. Certain complaints having been received regarding tampering with official records he was suspended and an enquiry was held against him by the Revenue Secretary of Pepsu Government. As a result of that enquiry the Revenue Secretary dismissed him by order dated August 30,1956 on the ground that the appellant was not above board and was not fit to be retained in service. This order was duly communicated to the appellant. Thereupon the appellant preferred an appeal before the State Government.

3. It would appear that he had submitted an advance copy of his appeal to the Revenue Minister of Pepsu who called for the records of the case immediately. After perusing them he wrote on the file that the charges against the appellant were serious and that they were prayed. He also observed that it was necessary to stop the evil with a strong hand. He however, expressed the opinion that as the appellant was a refugee and had a large family to support his dismissal would be too hard and that instead of dismissing him outright he should be reverted to his original post of qanungo and warned that if he does not behave properly in future he will be dealt with severely. On the next day the State of Pepsu merged in the State of Punjab.

4. According to the appellant the aforesaid remarks amounts to an order of the State Government and that they were orally communicated to him by the Revenue Minister. This is denied on behalf of the State. It is however, common ground that the aforesaid remarks or order, whatever they be were never communicated officially to the appellant.

5. After the merger of Pepsu with State of Punjab the file was put before the Revenue Minister of Punjab, Mr. Darbara Singh. On December 1/4,1956 Mr. Darbara Singh remarked on the file "Serious Charges have been proved by the Revenue Secretary and Shri Bachittar Singh was dismissed. I would like the Secretary I/c to discuss the case personally on 5th December, 1956." Then on April 2/8,1957 the Minister noted on the file "C; M. may kindly advise". With this remark the file went up before the Chief Minister, Punjab, who on April 16/18, 1957, passed an order, the concluding portion of which reads thus :

"Having regard to the gravity of the charges proved against this official, I am definitely of the opinion that his dismissal from service is a correct punishment and no leniency should be shown to him merely on the ground of his being a displaced person or having a large family to support. In the circumstances the order of dismissal should stand."

The order was communicated to the appellant on May 1,1957. Thereafter he preferred a position under Art. 226 of the Constitution which as already stated was dismissed by the Punjab High Court.

6. The validity of the order of the Revenue Secretary dismissing the appellant was not challenged before us. The point urged before us is that the order of the Revenue Minister of Pepsu having reduced the punishment from dismissal to reversion, the Chief Minister of Punjab could not sit in review over that order and set it aside. Two grounds are urged in support of this point. The first is that the order of the Revenue Minister of Pepsu was the order of the State Government and was not open to review. The second ground is that in any case it was not within the competence of the Chief Minister of Punjab to deal with the matter inasmuch as it pertained to the portfolio of the Revenue Minister.

7. Before we deal with the grounds we may state that the High Court was of the opinion that the proceedings taken against the appellant were made up of two parts : (a) the enquiry (which involved a decision of the question whether the allegation