B. N. BANERJEE, J.

( 1 ) IN exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 and Clause (5) of Article 148 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Controller and Auditor-General in relation to persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the President was pleased to make a set of rules known as the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1955, providing, inter alia, for a code of conduct for certain classes of civil servants.

( 2 ) IT is undisputed that the rules were made on 7th March 1955 and were published in the Gazette of India on 12th March 1955. According to the affidavit-in-opposition, the rules were circulated by the Central Board of Revenue to different offices subordinate to it, on 22nd April 1955, and by the Customs Office in Calcutta to its officers on 11th June 1955.

( 3 ) THE petitioner alleges that he came to know of the rules on 27th August, 1956 but I would much rather proceed on the basis that the rules were brought to the notice of the petitioner either on 11th June 1955 or shortly thereafter or that the petitioner had ample opportunity of knowing of the rules after 11th June 1955.

( 4 ) THE circumstances under which the petitioner was said to have come within the mischief of the rules are hereinafter stated in brief. The petitioner was at first appointed as a preventive officer, at the Calcutta Customs House on 18th September 1950. He was, thereafter, promoted as an Appraiser and was confirmed in that post on 22nd October 1956. While serving as a Preventive Officer, the petitioner alleges, he entered into a contract with one Dr. Durgadas Chakravarty for purchase of a plot of land, measuring about 3 cottahs, at No. 32/22 Chandi Ghosh Road, Tollygunge, for Rs. 2700 and did purchase the land on 15th March 1955. The petitioner further alleges that at that time he did not know of the promulgation of the rules and therefore there was no occasion for him to inform the authorities about the transaction. The petitioner also alleges that as soon as he came to know of the rules, he informed the Collector of Customs about the purchase of the land by a letter, dated 27th August 1956. and therein stated that the major portion of the purchase price of Rs. 2700 came out of his ancestral funds. The petitioner says that thereafter he began submitting his yearly statement of assets and before starting construction he took the necessary permission of the authorities by an application, dated 28th January 1958. According to the petitioner, he started construction on the above-mentioned land in April, 1959 and completed the construction at a cost of Rs. 21,000/ -. About two years thereafter the petitioner was suspended, on December 4, 1961, in view of a contemplated disciplinary action against him and was put on subsistence allowance. Thereafter, on January 22, 1962, the petitioner was charged with three charges o misconduct as stated hereinbelow : Charge I. That Shri Sripati Ranjan Biswas, alias S. R. Biswas while functioning as an Appraiser in the Calcutta Customs, during the period 1959 and 1960 committed gross misconduct in the discharge of his duties as a Public Servant, in that he, by abusing his position as a Public Servant demanded and accepted a sum of Rs, 50/- on 27-5-59. Rs. 500/- on or about 25-11-59 and Rs. 500/- on or about 1-12-59 as illegal gratification from Shri K. Kutty Nair, Managing Director of M/s. K. Kutty Nair and Co. (P) Ltd. , as consideration for passing his shipping bills on three occasions for the export of lac products. Charge II. That the said Shri Sripati Ranjan Biswas alias S. R. Biswas, while functioning as a Preventive Officer Grade II, and an Appraiser, under Calcutta Customs, during the period 18-9 50 to 30 9-60, had failed to maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty inasmuch as he was in possession of assets which were found to be disproportionate to the extent of about Rs. 59,66l/- for which he could not Tender any satisfactory explanatio

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