The main legal point established is that the sealing of DPC recommendations and the effective date of a penalty are determined by the specific circumstances and legal provisions involved in the disciplinary proceedings.

Pradeep Nandrajog, J.

1. The writ petitioner prays to this Court that order dated January 24, 2011 upholding the penalty of reduction of lower time scale of pay for a period of three years inflicted upon the petitioner be quashed and a mandamus be issued to the respondents to open the sealed cover(s) in respect of recommendation made by the DPC qua the petitioner which met on November 12, 2005 and March 13, 2006 and to give effect to the same with all consequential benefits. The order in question dated January 24, 2011 directs that the penalty levied upon the petitioner shall be effective from July 29, 2010 i.e. from the date of the final order passed by the Disciplinary Authority and not from September 02, 2003 i.e. the date of the incident, and in respect of which direction an alternative submission is made, that if the first relief prayed for is not granted, it should be declared that the penalty levied shall be applicable with effect from September 02, 2003.

2. The instant writ petition is preceded by various proceedings initiated by the petitioner in the Patna High Court and this Court and thus it would be useful to briefly pen profile the backdrop facts.

3. Joining service under CISF and lastly promoted to the rank of a Commandant on October 23, 2002, the petitioner was posted as the Commandant of the CISF Battalion stationed at Uri in the State of Jammu and Kashmir to give protection to the hydroelectric power project at Uri. On September 02, 2003, a truck bearing No. JK 05 7916 belonging to the force was intercepted by the police at Lakhanpur and was being found to be transporting 29 wooden sleepers without any valid documents. The truck was being driven by HC (Driver) Satish Kumar of the CISF Unit at Uri. An FIR No.55/03 dated September 02, 2003, for offences punishable under Sections 6/15/16 of the Forest Act, 1980 was registered. SI (Executive) Ram Bhagat of the CISF Unit at Uri was in-charge of the escort party and ostensibly the truck was to collect clothes, arms and ammunitions for the force personnel at Uri.

4. Senior Commandant Ajit Singh was directed to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the incident after the senior officers of CISF were given intimation by the local police at Lakhanpur, of a CISF truck being intercepted and later on impounded and the driver of the truck being arrested. He submitted a preliminary inquiry report opining that except for the role of HC(Driver) Satish Kumar and SI(Executive) Ram Bhagat, involvement of no other officer surfaced. But, simultaneously opined that there was a possibility of other officers being involved. Senior Commandant Ajit Singh was requested by the senior officers to clarify on certain points and conduct a further preliminary inquiry, and therefore he submitted a second preliminary inquiry report once again fixing the sole responsibility on HC(Driver) Satish Kumar and SI (Executive) Ram Bhagat. He mentioned in the report that in the absence of direct evidence against any other person of the CISF stationed at Uri, prima-facie, no responsibility could be fixed on them. He also observed that it was his opinion that such a major incident of smuggling could not take place without the knowledge of the Commandant of the Battalion.

5. The senior officers therefore opined that a detailed, in depth, inquiry needs to be conducted; and accordingly Sh.Taj Hassan, IPS, then working as the DIG (Northern Zone) CISF was requested to conduct an in depth inquiry into the matter. He opined that petitioner’s involvement in the smuggling of wood by using his junior staff could not be ruled out. Considering the preliminary inquiry report submitted by Sh.Taj Hassan, the Director General CISF referred the matter to the Cadre Controlling Ministry i.e. the Ministry of Home Affairs which in turn sought advice from the Central Vigilance Commission. Appraising the material gathered at the preliminary fact finding inquiries, the Ministry of Home Affairs recommended initiation of major di