S. Ravindra Bhat, J.

1. The Petitioners are aggrieved by the respondent Border Security Force's (hereafter "BSF") action dismissing them from its services without holding any inquiry or giving them opportunity to explain their alleged misconduct in accordance with its parent law, the Border Security Force Act, 1968 ("the Act") or the Border Security Force Rules, 1969 (“Rules”) framed thereunder.

2. The facts necessary to decide this case are that all the petitioners were enrolled as constables with BSF at different points of time. The first two Petitioners who had joined BSF in 1986 and 1987 as Constables were promoted subsequently to Head Constable and L. Naik. The third and fourth petitioners had joined the BSF in 1994 and 1997. During the months of January-February 2000, five Companies of BSF were deployed for election duty in the erstwhile State of unified Bihar. All the petitioners were in “F” Company, which was deployed at Chatru Bandu under Police Station Ranka, District Garhwa. The area was at that time pre-dominantly active with Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and Peoples War Group (PWG) activities and was considered hyper sensitive and militancy prone. It is stated th