- (1.) This is an appeal from the decision of the central Administrative tribunal, Ahmedabad.
(2.) The said show-cause notice and the appointment of Enquiry Officer was challenged by the respondent by a petition filed before the tribunal. By the impugned judgment, the tribunal has quashed and set aside the said show-cause notice.
(3.) It is common ground that the charges levelled against the respondent are in respect of his conduct in assessing certain assessees, i. e. , in the course of exercise of his judicial or quasi-judicial functions. On a reading of the charges and the allegations in detail learned Additional Solicitor General has fairly stated that they do not disclose any culpability nor is there any allegation of taking any bribe or of trying to favour any party in making the orders granting relief in respect of which misconduct is alleged against the respondent. The only paragraph to which the learned Additional Solicitor General drew our attention was paragraph 6 of the statement of imputations which runs as follows: "Shri R. K. Desai also issued refunds amounting to Rs. 26,641. 00 in the cases referred to above to the Indian agents of the masters of ships. In fact, these agents were not authorised to receive the refund orders, nor were there any requests from the non-resident owners of the ships to issue such refunds to their agents. The refunds were therefore granted to unauthorised persons. Moreover, refunds in these cases were personally delivered to instructions. ";