Judgment

SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR, J.

1. Leave granted in all the SLPs.

2. The central issue that arises for consideration in these appeals is: whether the charge sheet issued against the respondents is without jurisdiction, in view of the fact that the disciplinary authority, i.e., the Finance Minister, had not given approval for issuing the charge memo, even though he had given approval for initiation of major penalty proceedings against the respondents.

3. Since the issue raised in the present appeals is purely legal, it would not be necessary to make a detailed reference to the facts of individual cases. For convenience and for the purpose of reference only, we advert to the facts as pleaded in Civil Appeal No.__________@ SLP (Civil) No. 6348 of 2011 (Union of India & Ors. Vs. B.V.Gopinath).

4. Mr. B.V. Gopinath joined the Indian Revenue Service in the year 1987 as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax. It appears that he earned promotion as Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax in 1998, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax in 1999 and Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in 2000. On 7th/8th September, 2005, whilst working on the aforesaid post, Mr. Gopinath (respondent No.1) was served with a