Judgment

HEGDE, J. : The respondent Om Prakash Gupta was successful in the U. P. Civil Service (Executive) Competition held in 1940. He joined the service on June 20, 1940. Thereafter he was confirmed in due course. After serving in some districts in U. P. he was posted to Lakhimpur Kheri in July, 1944. He joined there as S. D. O. on July 20, 1944. On the basis of a report submitted by his Deputy Commissioner on August 20, 1944, the Government placed him under suspension on August 23, 1944. Mr. Bishop, the Commissioner, Lucknow Division was appointed as the enquiry officer to enquire into the allegations made against the respondent. He framed the following four charges against him.

(1) That on or about August 15, 1944, one Mst. Jamila was presented before you in Court by the police under a warrant under Section 100, Cr. P. C. You did not decide the case on the 15th August but postponed it to the 19th August 1944 making over the girl to the custody of one Hafiz Habib Beg. On 17th of August you sent for Mst. Jamila from the house of Hafiz Habib Beg at about 7 p.m. through your orderly Jangu Khan and detained the girl at your house for immoral purposes. Next morning the girl expressed a desire to go with her father who came to receive her at your house but you did not allow her to do so and again sent back the girl to the house of Hafiz Habib Beg.

(2) That on or about August 10, 1944, the police on the complaint of one Puttulal produced before you one Mst. Gunga Kurmin for whose arrest you had issued a warrant under Section 100, Cr. P. C. You directed Mst. Gunga and Puttu Lal to be escorted to your house by your orderly Jangu Khan . You sent away Puttu Lal and detained Mst. Gunga alone at your house for about two hours evidently to use her for immoral purposes.

(3) That sometime in the last week of July, 1944, a girl named Teqderan was produced before you under a warrant of arrest issued by you under Section 100, Cr. P. C. but you asked the parties to present the girl after court hours at your house. When the girl was brought to your house you asked the people accompanying her to stay outside and took the girl alone inside your house under the pretext of recording her statement and detained her there for two hours evidently to use her there for two hours evidently to use her for immoral purposes.

(4) That in all these three cases you conducted yourself in a manner unbecoming of an officer of the U. P.C. S. and, therefore, you are asked to show cause why you should not be dismissed from service."

2. These charges were duly served on the respondent. Thereafter Mr. Bishop held an enquiry on the basis of those charges in the presence of the respondent. He came to the conclusion that the respondent was guilty of all the charges though he found that there is no positive evidence of any immoral act on his part. The Government accepted those findings and after obtaining the concurrence of P. S. C. dismissed the respondent.

3. The respondent thereupon filed a suit on December 4, 1948, challenging on various grounds, the validity of the order dismissing him. The learned Judge who tried the suit set aside the order of dismissal on the sole ground that a second show cause notice as required by Section 240 of the Government of India Act, 1935 had not been given. This decision was upheld in appeal both by the High Court as well as by this Court. In this judgment, the trial Court had observed that it was open to the Government to continue the second stage of the enquiry in accordance with law. On April 12, 1949, the Government set aside the order of dismissal made by it on November 25, 1944. At about the same time it issued a notice to the respondent calling upon him to show cause why he should not be dismissed from service on the basis of the findings reached by the enquiry Officer. By that notice he was required to show cause against the proposed punishment by May 31, 1949. That notice was served on the appellant on April 30, 1949. On receipt of tha