Manojit Bhuyan, J.

1. At the relevant time the Respondent i.e. Bamin Tari was serving as the Additional Commissioner in the Department of Customs & Central Excise, being so promoted w.e.f. 30.7.2009. Memo of charges was issued against him on 5.3.2014/7.3.2014 under Rule 14 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 (in short the “1965 Rules”) as follows:

“Article-I

Shri Bamin Tari, while posted as Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Inland Container Depot (ACTL.) Ballabhgarh (Haryana) during the period from April 2002 to February 2003 at ACTL, Ballabhgarh and while holding supervisory charge of processing of shipping bills and examination of export consignments in the Export Shed, failed to detect the over valuation of export goods with respect to export by M/s Sunrise International, M/s Tech Industrial Corporation, M/s Brightwel Enterprises, M/s International Engineers and M/s Vikrant Overseas and allowed them to avail undue Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) benefits to the tune of about Rs.8.61 Crores at the cost of Government exchequer. He allowed final processing of shipping bills and the consignments to be “let exported”. Shri Bamin Tari, the then DC, did not alert/supervise the subordinate staff i.e. Superintendents/Inspectors concerned to verify the genuineness of the export product in terms of description, quality, and value or to order for specific examination thereof. Shri Bamin Tari, Deputy Commissioner cleared consignment even after seeing the samples personally. Shri Bamin Tari as the then Deputy Commissioner failed both in his capacity as a supervising officer and as an assessing/examining officer. He thus failed to maintain absolute integrity and also failed to discharge his duty with devotion and diligence and acted in a manner unbecoming of a Govt. servant. Thus, he contravened the provisions of Rule 3(1)(i),(ii) and (iii) and Rule 3(2)(i) and (ii) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964.

Article-II

Shri Bamin Tari, the then Deputy Commissioner, facilitated the Customs clearance of cheap quality export consignments of the firms controlled by Shri Vinod Kumar Garg and managed by Shri Mudit Kumar Tiwari, for pecuniary gain. Shri Bamin Tari used to receive Rs.5000/- to Rs. 7000/- pr container for Customs clearance of export consignments of Shri Vinod Kumar Garg. Shri Bamin Tari, the Deputy Commissioner thus failed to maintain absolute integrity and failed to discharge his duty with devotion and diligence and acted in a manner unbecoming of a Govt. servant and did not act in his best judgments. He also did not ensure the integrity and devotion to duty of his subordinates dealing with the aforesaid shipping bills. He, thus, contravened the provisions of Rule 3(1)(i),(ii) and (iii) and Rule 3(2)(i) and (ii) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964.”

2. The gist of the charges was that while posted as the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Inland Container Depot, Ballabhgarh, Haryana during the period April 2002 to February 2003 he failed, both in his capacity as a Supervising Officer and as an Assessing/Examining Officer, to maintain integrity and devotion to duty and caused loss to the Government Exchequer by not only allowing the firms so mentioned to avail undue Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) but also in facilitating the final processing of shipping bills and the consignments to be exported. Further, he had also allowed customs clearance of sub-standard export consignments of a firm for pecuniary gain, in that, he used to received monetary benefits in lieu thereof. Along with the memorandum of charges, the list of documents in support of the charges was also enclosed.

3. O.A. No. 040/00247 of 2014 came to be instituted by Bamin Tari before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Guwahati Bench, as during the said period he was serving as the Additional Commissioner, Central Excise and Service Tax at Dibrugarh, Assam. The basic grounds of challenge taken is that the memo of charges had been issued