The main legal point established in the judgment is that the impact of acquittal in a criminal case on disciplinary proceedings should be determined based on the specific circumstances of each case, and the principles of staying departmental proceedings when a criminal trial is pending should be applied judiciously.

JUDGMENT

K.M. Joseph, J. - Leave granted.

2. On the basis of the complaint lodged against the respondent who was employed as a clerk with the appellant(s) relating to demands for bribe by the respondent to clear retirement formalities, the respondent came to be arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on 31st August, 2015. A case was lodged against the respondent under Section 7 (12) & (13), sub-section 2 read with Section 13(i)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The appellant also passed an order of suspension against the respondent on 3rd August, 2015. This suspension was no doubt revoked on 15th September, 2015. Appellant served respondent a notice of the departmental enquiry on 20th March, 2017. This prompted the respondent to move a writ petition. In the writ petition, the following order was passed on 29.06.2017: -

"Let the affidavit-of-service filed in Court today be kept with the record.

Let an affidavit-in-opposition be filed within a period of three weeks. Let an affidavit-in-reply thereto, if any, be filed within a period of one week thereafter.

Let this matter appear for hearing in the Combined Monthly List of August, 2017 within the first 50 matters under that heading.

In the affidavit-in-opposition the respondents shall disclose the nature of the criminal proceeding pending against the petitioner including the names of the witnesses in the criminal proceeding as well as the departmental enquiry.

The respondents shall be at liberty to proceed with the departmental enquiry but shall not pass any final order without the leave of the Court."

3. The departmental proceedings accordingly, continued. According to the appellant(s), the enquiry was held and the respondent participated in the enquiry also. At the end of the enquiry, the appellant(s) filed an application seeking leave to pass the final orders. This resulted in, the learned Single Judge passing judgment dated 10th, February 2021. This decision was impugned by the respondent before the Division Bench. In the meantime, the respondent's service came to be dismissed from service by order dated 2nd March, 2021. By the impugned judgment the Division Bench has proceeded to direct that the final order of dismissal of the respondent be stayed till the disposal of the criminal case. It was further ordered that the order of the dismissal against the respondent will become operative on the criminal proceeding culminating in an order of conviction. The Court also notes that the Court was exercising power of the Court of Appeal provided in Order 41 Rule 33.

4. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties. The complaint of the appellant(s) is that the Division Bench of the High Court has erred in not noticing that principally it is not desirable to delay the departmental proceeding on account of pendency of a criminal case. The principle that it is desirable to delay the departmental proceeding when a criminal trial is also pending, is owing to the fact that the employee would be compelled to disclose his defence before the departmental proceedings. The principle is inapplicable. This is for the reason that by virtue of the order, we have referred to dated 29.06.2007, the learned Single Judge had permitted the enquiry to go on. According to the appellant(s), the respondent participated in the enquiry and thereafter on the culmination of the enquiry in keeping with the order passed on 29.06.2017 after the judgment of the Single Judge dated 10.02.2021 the order of dismissal came to be passed. The further case of the appellant(s) is that the order of dismissal was not the subject matter of appeal. In other words, dismissal of the respondent was not challenged before the Division Bench.

It is also contended that a verdict of acquittal in the trial which may occur in the future would not affect the disciplinary proceedings as these proceedings have purport different from the disciplinary proceedings. The principles applicable to disciplinary proceedings are differen