JUDGMENT

B.P. JEEVAN REDDY, J.—Leave granted. Heard counsel for the parties.

2. Under the order impugned herein, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana has quashed the memo of charges communicated to the respondent-writ petitioner as well as the order appointing the enquiry officer to enquire into those charges. A further direction has been given to the appellants, viz., the State of Punjab and its authorities (respondents in the writ petition) to consider the case of the respondent for promotion according to law. The correctness of the said order is questioned by the State of Punjab and its authorities in this appeal.

3. The respondent-writ petitioner was the Superintendent of Nabha High Security Jail in the year 1986. On his transfer from the said post, he gave charge of his office on 26-12-1986. On the night intervening 1/2-1-1987 certain inmates, said to be terrorists, made an attempt to escape. In that connection, two of the inmates attempting to escape and one jail official died in the shooting which took place. Six terrorists made good their escape. The Inspector General of Prisons immediately inspected the prison and made a report to the Government on 9-1-1987. He reported inter alia that the said incident was the cumulative result of lax administration, indiscipline and lack of control over the prisoners. He reported further that the respondent "followed the policy of appeasement towards the extremists. He yielded to each and every illegal demand of the extremists. As a result, detenu Gurdev Singh, assumed the leadership of the prison population and dictated terms to the administration. There was a total breakdown of the classification of the inmates in the different wards of the jail. It is quite evident from the fact that three escapees Balwinder Singh, Major Singh and another Balwinder Singh were permitted to stay together along with detenu Kulwant Singh life prisoner Major Singh and three adolescent undertrials Ram Singh, Kulwant Singh and Surinder Singh in a single cell in utter disregard of the Punjab Jail Manual.... It has been told by the members of the staff that the Superintendent Jail, Shri Chaman Lal Goyal, did not inspect the barracks/wards of the jail during the month of December as he was expecting the promotion orders shortly.... Shri Chaman Lal Goyal accepted a farewell party from the most dreadful terrorists, viz., Tarsem Singh Gill, Col. Kahlon, Giani Roshan Singh and others on the receipt of his promotion orders which is against the conduct rules and the provisions of the Punjab Jail Manual". The injured terrorists were interrogated by the police and they have confessed that they had been planning this escape for about a month. He recommended that "the Deputy Superintendent, Shri Surinder Singh and Shri Chaman Lal Goyal, Superintendent Jail, who are responsible for the loose administration and laxity in the control of the inmates may please be placed under suspension at the Government level".

4. It appears that the District Magistrate also ordered the Sub-Divisional Magistrate to enquire into the said incident. The latter submitted his report to the District Magistrate on 26-1-1987. In this report, a copy of which has been included in the material paper-books in this appeal, there are no observations or comments either for or against the respondent.

5. No action was taken against the respondent until 1992. He continued in service as usual. For the first time, he was called to the office of the Secretary to the Home Department on 25-3-1992 for questioning and thereafter the memo of charges was issued on 9-7-1992. The respondent submitted his explanation on 4-1-1993 denying the charges. After obtaining the comments of the Inspector General of Prisons on his explanation, the Government appointed an enquiry officer on 20-7-1993. Soon thereafter, the respondent approached the High Court - on 24-8-1993 - by way of a writ petition seeking the quashing of the charges and the orders appointing the enquiry officer