Judgment

SHELAT,J, J.

( 1 ) BETWEEN July and November, 1962, that being the period relevant to this appeal, the respondent, Lt. Co ). J. S. Khanna, and Res. Major Lala, were staff officers Nos. 1 and 2 respectively attached to the headquarters. Chief Engineer, Tusker Project at Tezpur. As such officers, one of their duties was to ensure supplies of goods, such as motor spare parts, required for military trucks and other vehicles conveying troops, materials, etc. to forward areas in Assam and NEFA.

( 2 ) ACCORDING to the prosecution, these two officers were responsible for manipulations in placing supply orders with a firm called M/s. Manik motor Works, of obtaining supplies even before orders in relation to them were placed, and in some cases, even before issuing quotation enquiries and obtaining in answer to such enquiries quotations as required by the relevant rules in connection with such supplies. The prosecution case. further was that they paid exorbitant prices for these materials, that the quotations obtained by them were opened, contrary to the rules, without then keeping a second officer present, that at the instance of Manik Motorworks Res. Lala introduced the name or M/s. Auto Stores, a non-existent firm, in the list of approved firms with the object of showing that the quotations of Manik Motor Works were lower than those of other suppliers, and lastly, that the two respondents were guilty of fabricating certain quotations said to have been given by firms such as the United Motor Works and Darrang Transport Co. The principal charge for which these two officers and five others were said to be liable was that they along with those others entered into a criminal conspiracy with the object of cheating and defrauding the government of India, and with that end, of fabricating documents and of accepting supplies in breach of the rules governing them.

( 3 ) THE first information report in connection with these alleged offences was lodged on 18/01/1963. It is strange, however, that in that report no mention was made of Res. Khanna, and instead the persons charged therein were Res. Lala and one Capt. Inder Mohan Sharma. Khannas name, however, appeared in the order of the government of india, Ministry of Home Affairs, dated May 28, 1963, whereby sanction under S. 197 (1) (a), of the Code of Criminal Procedure and S. 6 (1) (a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 was issued.

( 4 ) THE order inter alia stated that respondents Khanna and Lala were, during the period between July and November, 1962, acting as staff officers nos. 1 and 2 respectively and were as such attached to the headquarters of the Chief Engineer, one Brig. Mani, in the Tusker Project at Tezpur; that the main function of Project Tusker was to ensure supplies of materials such as motor spare parts to vehicles conveying armed forces and supplies to the forward areas ; that the duties of these two officers were principally to assist Brig. Mani in receiving and processing quotations received from local merchants and then to place supply orders and thus obtain through such local purchases the required materials. Towards that end. Res. Khanna had been given certain financial powers, namely, to place supply orders up to the value of Rs. 1,000. 00 each, Res. Lala, however, had no such financial powers. The order further stated that during the relevant period these two officers, along with Manik Chand of Manik Motor Works and certain employees of that firm entered into a conspiracy, the object whereof was to commit criminal misconduct in the discharge of their duties and to cheat the Account Officers attached to Project Tusker by manipulating supply orders and thereby obtaining pecuniary advantage for the said firm, that in doing so Res. Lala introduced the name of M/s. Auto Stores, a fictitious firm as one of the approved firms, that bogus quotations in the names of Auto Stores, United Motor Works, Darrang Transport and rajasthan Motors were brought on record with