1. The petitioner was an Assistant Engineer at the relevant moment of time in the U.P. State Electricity Board now known as U.P. Power Corporation Limited. The petitioner was served with a charge sheet dated 27.01.2001. The petitioner submitted his reply denying the charges. An enquiry was instituted and an enquiry report was submitted. The enquiry officer found that he was not guilty of the charges. The disciplinary authority accepted the findings of the enquiry report but forwarded it to the State Government for approval from the State Vigilance Department. The State Vigilance Department thereafter made a fresh enquiry and found the petitioner to be guilty of the charges. Based on this report submitted by the State Vigilance Department, a punishment order was passed which has been questioned in the present writ petition.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that once an enquiry report has been submitted in which the petitioner had been exonerated of the charges, the disciplinary authority had no power to forward it to the State Government for a fresh enquiry by the State Vigilance Department unless the disciplinary authority disagreed with the enquiry report whi