The court emphasized the responsibility of the BDO in relation to the charges and the limitations on the power of the Administrative Tribunal to interfere with the findings of the inferior Tribunal.

Judgment

G. B. PATTANAIK, J.

( 1 ) THIS appeal is directed against the impugned order of the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal (for short the Administrative Tribunal) interfering with an order of punishment inflicted upon the delinquent - respondent on finding him guilty of five sets of charges. The delinquent-respondent was the Block Development Officer (BDO) and he along with four others were served with five sets of charges which relate to creation of false and forged record, ultimately resulting in loss : to the State Exchequer and the BDO was the officer who had the duty to pass the bills in question, prepared by the other delinquents. As the charges relate to corruption of the said officers, under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules, 195 5, the same were referred to the Tribunal under the aforesaid Rules for being inquired into and giving its finding on the charges. In accordance with the procedure for conducting the proceedings before the Tribunal, the Disciplinary Tribunal concluded the proceedings and found that the charges against all the four delinquents have been proved. On receipt of the findings of the Tribunal,, the State Government consulted the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and ultimately imposed punishment of compulsory retirement against the respondent and two others whereas against the 4th delinquent, who had superannuated, inflicted the punishment of recovery of rs. 100/- per month for one year from the pension amount. Against the said order of compulsory retirement, the respondent approached the Administrative Tribunal constituted under the Administrative Tribunals Act of 1985 and the Tribunal, by the impugned order, having set aside the order of punishment, the State is in appeal before us.

( 2 ) THE learned counsel appearing for the State of Tamil Nadu contends that the impugned order of the Tribunal cannot be sustained inasmuch as the conclusion that the Disciplinary Tribunal has no jurisdiction to. frame set of charges is contrary to the judgment of this Court in the case of Secretary to Government of T. N. v. D. Subramanyan Rajadevan AIR 1996 SC 2634 : 1996 (5) SCC 334. So far as the other ground on which the. Tribunal interfered with the order of punishment, it is contended that in view of the nature of charges levelled against the officers concerned and in view of the findings of the Enquiry Tribunal after due inquiry, the - Administrative Tribunal in the impugned order committed serious error by merely coming to the conclusion that the BDO, the respondent herein, had no role to play excepting the check of arithmetic calculations and pass the bills and, therefore, he could not have been punished for the charges which are stated to have been proved in course of inquiry before the Disciplinary Tribunal. According to the learned counsel, the conclusion that to hold the BDO responsible, is totally unjustified, is a conclusion which is unsupportable in law and more so no such conclusion could be arrived at without having a look at the report or findings of the Disciplinary Tribunal which the 5 Disciplinary Tribunal is duty bound to submit under Rule 9 of the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules, 1955 and which report has been served on the delinquent in accordance with Rule 10 thereof. The learned counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, contended that the Administrative Tribunal having been satisfied on the basis of the duty of the BDO in relation to the impugned transactions and having held that the BDO cannot be fastened with the liability of the charges against him, the said order should not be interfered with by this Court.

( 3 ) IN view of the rival submissions, the question that arises for consideration is whether the conclusion of the Administrative Tribunal in the impugned order can at all be sustained. The Tribunal is an institution created under the Act of 1985 and discharges the duties which -were earlier being di