ORDER :

SANJAY K. AGRAWAL, J.

1. Invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner herein has called in question legality, validity and correctness of the impugned order dated 11-8-2023 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur Bench, Circuit Sitting at Bilaspur in Original Application No.203/00387/2020, by which the petitioner’s original application has been dismissed by the learned CAT finding no merit.

Question involved: -

2. The short question involved in the writ petition is, whether the petitioner herein can be proceeded departmentally by holding a departmental inquiry and a criminal trial on the same set of facts?

Factual backdrop: -

3. The aforesaid question arises on the following factual backdrop: -

4. While the petitioner was working as Senior Section Engineer (Safety) in South East Central Railway, Bilaspur, he was subjected to First Information Report (FIR) dated 18-9-2015 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under Sections 7 & 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1