Grover, J. - (1.) These appeals by special leave are from a common judgment of the Assam and Nagaland High Court and are directed against the orders made by that court quashing the charges for alleged offences under certain provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
(2.) The facts may be stated. Lt. Col. G. K. Apte the respondent in Cr. A. No. 164/68 was posted to Tejpur as Staff Officer No. 1 in the summer of the year 1960. It appears that a project known as "Tusker Project" had to be carded out in the NEFA area. The main duty of the units employed in the Project was the making of roads in the NEFA area to enable the movements of troops etc., in the event of any Chinese aggression. Brigadier Mani was in-charge of the Project as Military Chief Engineer. Apte was posted as Staff Officer No. 1. This post corresponded to that of a Superintending Engineer on the Civil side. The Chief Engineer had various powers which he could delegate to the senior Officers working under him. Such powers included the authority to make local purchases of such items or articles as were required by the various units which were not readily available either from the Military Ordnance Stores or from the Military Supply Department. On May 20, 1960 the Chief Engineer delegated his power to Apte to make such purchases upto a maximum of Rs,10,000/- for each order. He could also place orders with regard to printing, stationery and office equipment upto a certain limit. The respondent in the other appeal Maj. B. S. Talwar served as Staff Officer No. 2 in the same establishment under Brig. Mani and Apte. His powers and duties will be presently adverted to. The charges which were laid against Apte and Talwar relate to the purchase of stores and various items and articles mainly from certain local merchants.
(3.) On January 16, 1963 an information was lodged under Section 153, Criminal Procedure Code, by the Superintendent of Police S. P. E./ CIA that cooking utensils like Cheklas, Belanas, Degchis and other articles like shovels, etc. had been purchased from M/s K. B. Stores, Tejpur, at exhorbitant rates. It was said that Talwar was responsible for these deals. It appeared that he had colluded with K. B. Stores and some others on various occasions and by abusing his position as a public servant he had obtained pecuniary benefit for them and for himself by showing favours in the matter of inviting quotations and placing orders. Between June 1960 and October 1960 he had placed a large number of orders with K. B. Stores. Invariably enquiries about quotations were addressed to K. B. Stores, Kedar Mal Badri Narayan Agarwal and Co., Steelworth Ltd., and Trade and Industry (Assam) Private Ltd, Tezpur. Preliminary enquiries showed that these firms were either under a single ownership or were allied. There was thus a conspiracy amongst all of them to collude with Talwar and others for the purpose mentioned before. These offences had been committed under Section 120-B read with Section 5 (2) and Section 5 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. After investigation a chargesheet dated June 10, 1963 was filed. The two officers Apte and Talwar and the employees and representatives of K. B. Stores Tezpur were accused of the offences mentioned before. A list of 47 supply orders was given and it was alleged that Talwar had issued quotation inquiries to bogus firms like Agarwal and Co. Bagaria Stores which either did not exist or did not transact any local business with a view to avoiding competition. Quotations in the name of such firms were forged or caused to be forged by the employees of K. B. Stores. The normal procedure for issuing quotation inquiries and receiving of quotations was not followed by Apte and Talwar. In some cases blank quotation forms were obtained by Talwar from the office for handing them over to the funs of their own choice. Certificates were endorsed on the supply orders without calling any quotations. A number of supply orders were mentioned which had been issued under the signature of Apte. It was also stated that higher rates quoted by K. B. Stores than the lower rates quoted by other firms were accepted.;