* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 16^th March, 2026.

Pronounced on: 29^th April, 2026.

Uploaded on: 29^th April, 2026.

+ W.P.(C) 14348/2023 RAJESH CHOUDHARY …Petitioner Through: Ms. Prity Sharma and Mr.

Ashwini Kaushik, Advocate with Petitioner in person.

versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ….Respondents Through: Mr. Balendu Shekhar, CGSC with Mr. Krishna Chaitanya, Mr. Rajkumar Maurya and Mr. Divyansh Singh Dev, Advocates for R-1.

Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, Mr. Rishabh Yadav and Mr. Harsh Chauhan, Advocates for R-2, 3.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA

JUDGMENT

SANJEEV NARULA, J.:

1. This writ petition concerns the removal from service of an officer of the Central Warehousing Corporation., “CWC” The controversy is not whether every lapse in service must invite judicial correction. It is whether, on the record of this case, a penalty as severe as removal could lawfully be founded on findings that do not travel with equal assurance across the inquiry report, the disciplinary order, and the appellate decision. That question arises here because the gravest part of the case against the Petitioner is the allegation of corruption, while the record, read as a whole, also discloses lesser