Judgment

CHANDRACHUD, CJI.:- This is the first reference of its kind made by the President of India to this Court under Article 317 (1) of the Constitution. That article reads thus :

"317. Removal and suspension of a member of a Public Service Commission.

(1). Subject to the provisions of clause (3) the Chairman or any other person of a Public Service Commission shall only be removed from his office by order of the President on the ground of misbehaviour after the SC, on reference being made to it by the President, has, on inquiry held in accordance with the procedure prescribed in that behalf under Art. 145, reported that the Chairman or such other member, as the case may be, ought on any such ground to be removed."

Clause (3) of Art. 317, which confers power on the President to remove the Chairman or any other member of a Public Service Commission for reasons mentioned in sub-clauses (a), (b) and (c), is not relevant for our purpose.

2. Not only is this reference the first of its kind but the facts which have been referred to us for our consideration and report are, shockingly, the first of their kind. We hope they will be the last of their kind. The order of Reference recites those facts as follows :

"On 24-11-1982 at about 1300 hours Shri Gopal Krishan Saini, Member, Punjab Public Service Commission physically assaulted Smt. Santosh Chowdhary, Chairman, Punjab Public Service Commission inasmuch as he slapped her on the face in the presence of three other Members of the Punjab Public Service Commission, namely, S/Shri H. S. Deol, M. S. Brar and W. G. Lall and thereby committed gross misbehaviour."

In exercise of the power conferred by Art. 317 (1) of the Constitution, the President has referred for consideration of this Court the question "as to whether Shri Gopal Krishan Saini, Member of the Punjab Public Service Commission, ought, on the ground of misbehaviour, to be removed from the office of the Member of the Commission."

3. We issued notice of the Reference to the five members of the Commission, including the Chairperson Smt. Santosh Chowdhary and Shri Gopal Krishan Saini who is alleged to have assaulted her. All of them have filed their affidavits in these proceedings. Certain other persons whom claim to have knowledge of the incident or of its alleged background have also filed their affidavits. Amongst them are : Dr. Vinod, Gupta, Ujagar Singh, Avtar Singh, Hakam Singh and Dr. Rasewat. An affidavit has Also been filed by Shri Sainis wife, the purport of which is that Shri Saini has been involved in this false incident since the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri Darbara Singh, was not happy with his appointment as a Member of the Punjab Public Service Commission. It is also alleged that the Chairpersors husband was running classes for training, students for the Public Service Commission Examinations, that he wanted certain Students of his to be favoured in those examinations and that an the failure of Shri Saini to oblige him, his wife, the Chairperson, has involved Shri Saini into a false charge. The Chief Minister of Punjab has filed an affidavit denying the allegations made against him.

4. In pursuance of the notices issued by this Court, the Attorney-General of India and the Advocate-General of Punjab appeared in these proceedings.

5. Shri Nariman, who appears on behalf of Shri Saini whose conduct we are called upon to inquire into, contended that before making this Reference, the President should have obtained the opinion of a fact-finding body for his prima facie satisfaction that a case was made out for obtaining a report from this Court on the question of the alleged misbehaviour of Shri Saini. According to counsel, this Court cannot, through the medium of a Reference, be called upon to discharge functions which ordinarily fall within the jurisdiction of a trial Court, civil or criminal. The danger of such a procedure is said to be that if we hold that the incident is proved, Shri Saini will automatically be held guilty b