Judgment

VAIDIALINOAM, J.-The sole point that arises for consideration in this appeal by special leave is whether the order, dated April 26, 1964, passed by the Governor of Punjab reverting the appellant from the Punjab Education Service, Class I (Officiating Service) to the Punjab Education Service, Class II, with immediate effect, amounts to reduction in rank attracting the applicability of Article 311(2) of the Constitution.

2. The appellant when this order was passed was Principal, Government College, Muktsar and on reversion he was posted as Deputy Inspector of Schools, Agriculture, Chandigarh. The learned Single Judge, who heard Civil Writ No. 1506 of 1964, filed by the appellant to quash the said order, held by his judgment, dated September 9, 1965, that the order amounts to reduction in rank of the appellant and quashed the same. On appeal by the State of Punjab and two other officers, the Division Bench by its order, dated July 21, 1966, in Letters Patent Appeal No. 346 of 1965, set aside the order of the learned Single Judge and held that the impugned order of reversion was not passed by way of punishment and that on the other hand it was only reversion of the appellant from his officiating post to his substantive rank and that in consequence Article 311(2) has no application.

3. The circumstances leading up to the passing of the impugned order may be stated : The appellant having obtained in 1943 a degree of the Punjab University in Agriculture, joined the Education Department of the Punjab State on November 9, 1944, as a teacher in agriculture. Later on he obtained degrees of B. T., M. Ed. and M. A. He also got degree of basic education as a nominee of the Punjab Government and he was further nominated by the State Government in 1953, for higher studies in the United States. In August, 1954, he was selected as a Lecturer in Agriculture by the Subordinate Services Selection Board, Punjab and in 1955 he was selected for promotion to P. E. S., Class II, by the State Service Commission. In September, 1960, he was promoted to P. E. S., Class I, on an officiating basis and on May 9, 1963, he was appointed Principal of the Government College, Muktsar.

4. It is seen from the records that the appellant had some trouble with the members of the staff and in consequence reports had been sent to his superiors who advised the appellant to act tactfully. The appellant was later on invited to meet the superior officers at Chandigarh and he was apprised of the complaints received about him, but his request to have the names of the complainants divulged to him and also to go through the complaints said to have been received and to be furnished with the copies of the same were all rejected by the authorities. The appellant appears to have been advised to proceed on leave, but he declined to accede to the request of the authorities. Later on the appellant made a request to the second respondent, the Director of Public Instruction, Punjab, to come over to Chandigarh and visit the institution to enable him to have a personal knowledge about the working of the College. The second respondent accordingly presided over the annual prize distribution function in the College on February 26, 1964. When the appellant was reading the College s annual report in which certain aspersions had been made as against some of the members of the teaching staff, Prof. S. C. Kapur (who was one of the professors in the College), interrupted the proceedings and remarked "What about those principals who come drunk to the stage and do make up of the girls ?". This incident led to some commotion and one of the parents of the students demanded an enquiry into the allegations of misconduct made against the appellant by Professor Kapur. According to the appellant, the Director of Public Instruction, Mr. Sharma then and there assured the appellant that an enquiry will be made promptly by two senior officers and action would be taken to punish the guilty persons wheth