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 appellant and some of his relations after this, during the year 1960, including one instituted on the basis of a report by Daryao S ingh, Inspector of Police, C. I. D., Kamal. This report which bears the date November 1, 1959, alleged that the appellant had committed offences under S. 166, S. 167 of the Indian Penal Code read with S. 109 of the Indian Penal Code and also under S. 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act; This report was forwarded by Daryao Singh to the Secretary, Orphanage Advisory Board, Chandigarh, in connection with the affairs of which Board the offences were said to have been committed; it was sent by the latter to the police for registration of a case and investigation, only on May 25, 1960. The criminal cases which were pending in the courts of different magistrates of the Punjab were on appellant s application transferred by this Court to criminal courts subordinate to the Allahabad High Court for disposal in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

(2) Two of these cases, one under S. 107 of the Indian Penal Code in which the appellant s wife was made an accused, and the other under S. 145 of the Indian Penal Code in which also she figured as an opposite-party, were disposed of in March and April 1961, the proceedings in both cases being dropped by an order of the Additional District Magistrate, Saharanpur. In the case instituted on Dhingra s complaint the investigation appears to have been completed in August-September 1959, and in February 1960, the Government of Punjab applied to the Central Government for sanction to prosecute the appellant under S. 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 as required under S. 6(c) of that Act. The Government of India was however reluctant to accord sanction and on June 2, 1960, the Government of India (Home Department) wrote to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab indicating the view of the Central Government that such prosecution was not likely to succeed and also that as Kapur was already involved in two criminal cases and would be Facing his trial in those cases, any action to prosecute him in a third case, might look like chasing a man who was already in serious trouble. In this letter the Punjab Government was requested to consider whether it was necessary to pursue that particular case just then.

(3) The Government of Punjab does not appear to have pressed its request for sanction and ultimately on the 25th May 1961 the Police submitted the final report in the case under S. 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure praying that the case should be consigned to record as untraced." On the same date the Magistrate made an order directing the case "to be consigned to record as untraced." A similar report was on the same date submitted by the Police to the Magistrate in the cases star