JUDGMENT :

1. Sixteen persons were reported dead because of consumption of illicit liquor on 16.08.2016 in village Khajuria, falling under Gopalganj (Town) Police Station in the District of Gopalganj. The petitioner, on the said date, was posted as an Armed Guard in the said Police Station. After receiving the said information, a raid was conducted, leading to recovery of huge quantity of semi fermented country made liquor and other intermediate/final products intended to be used in the preparation of country-made liquor. An F.I.R. was registered as Gopalganj P.S. Case No. 347 of 2016.

2. Soon thereafter, the petitioner along with 29 police personnel posted in the Police Station was placed under suspension as a fallout of the occurrence. The petitioner was placed under suspension vide order no. 738/16 dated 18.08.2016. The order of suspension was subsequently revoked by an order dated 05.01.2017 and a decision was taken to initiate departmental proceeding against him. Charges were framed against the petitioner by the Superintendent of Police, Gopalganj, which were issued vide memo no. 217 dated 07.02.2017 (Annexure 1). The charge sheet has been brought on record by way of Annexure 1 to the writ application, in which, apart from recital of the occurrence, which had taken place on 16.08.2016, it was mentioned that in relation to New Excise Policy of the State Government, the concerned police personnel were instructed to strictly follow the orders/instructions issued by the State Government, Police Headquarters and other Senior Officers and crime meetings were also held by the Disciplinary Authority (Superintendent of Police) from time to time for recovery of illicit liquor. The activities of preparation and sale of illicit liquor in a village hardly at a distance of 2 kms from the Police Station were within the knowledge of the police officers and other personnel of the Police Station, which was not taken seriously. This was considered to be indicative of negligence, dereliction of duty and suspicious conduct of the police officers/personnel. For quick reference, the misconduct alleged against the petitioner in the charge sheet is being reproduced hereinbelow verbatim:-

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3. It is evident from the charge memo that the Disciplinary Authority intended to rely on following documentary evidences to establish the charge framed against the petitioner:-

i) Gopalganj Jiladesh Number- 738/2016 ii) Gopalganj Jiladesh Number- 19/2017 iii) Copy of the F.I.R.

4. Further, the department intended to examine the following witnesses to establish the aforesaid charge:-

I) Confidential Reader, Superintendent of Police, Gopalganj II) Reserved Sub-Inspector, Police Line Gopalganj III) Station House Officer, Town Police Station, Gopalganj.

5. Be it noted that the document at item no. 1 hereinabove was the order whereby the petitioner was put under suspension and the document at item no. 2 of the charge sheet was the order whereby the said order of suspension was revoked. The third document was apparently the First Information Report registered in respect of the occurrence in question. In the departmental enquiry, the Confidential Reader proved the documents at item no. 1 and 2, which were issued by the Superintendent of Police, G