Judgment

DAS GUPTA, J.:

The appellant, R. P. Kapur, was appointed to the Indian Civil Service almost 25 years ago. He continued in the service after the independence of India and since 1948 has been serving the Government of Punjab. On July 18, 1959, when the appellant was serving as Commissioner, Ambala Division he was placed under suspension. A few months before this, two criminal cases had been instituted against him. The first of these was instituted on December 10, 1958 by one M. L. Sethi against Kapur and his mother-in-law, Kaushalya Devi, on allegations of offences under S. 420 and S. 120B of the Indian Penal Code. The second was instituted on the complaint of one M. L. Dhingra on allegations of offences under S. 15 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and Ss. 167, 168, 406, 420 and 465 of the Indian Penal Code. This complaint was submitted by Dhingra to Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon, the Chief Minister of Punjab, on February 27, 1959. Action in this case was taken under the orders of the Chief Minister and a first information report was recorded on the basis of this complaint at Chandigarh Police Station on March 4, 1959. Several other cases were instituted against the