- (1.) THIS rule is at the instance of the petitioner, a railway servant, employed as a Travelling Ticket examiner impeaching the validity of the alleged order of termination dated 30th March, 1983 made under memo No. P/sc- Comm. / SP-B/s/82-2 issued by the General Manager, South Eastern Railway as well as the charge-sheet No. DCS/con/vig. /6/79/mkm dated the 15th January, 1980 issued by the Divisional Commercial superintendent, Khurda and enquiry report submitted by the enquiry Officer, South Eastern Railway. It has been alleged that there has been a patent violation of the principles of natural justice by the Enquiry Officer, one J. N. Adak, in not giving the petitioner the reasonable opportunity of examining the prosecution witnesses in his presence and permitting him to cross examine those witnesses and also the enquiry officer having acted with a bias.
(2.) THE short fact of the case is that on 8th May, 1979 while the petitioner was on duty as a. Travelling Ticket Examiner in 141 Up Coromondal Express Ex-Howrah to Khurda he was in charge of two 3 Tier Sleeper Coaches Nos. 7124 and 7134 and he was hauled up by the vigilant personnel for not issuing tickets to five passengers who travelled in that train with the platform tickets in spite of his receiving from them certain sums of money. The EET passenger foil being ticket No. 697020 Local and 628614 (foreign) were seized by the vigilance people and he had to hand over the amended chart of the Coach No. 7124 and 7134 while he left the train at Khurda. On 14th May, 1979 the Divisional. Commercial Superintendent, Khurda Divn. the respondent No. 3 issued an order suspending the petitioner under proviso to Rule 1 of the railway Service (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 1968 suspending him from service with immediate effect on the ground that a disciplinary proceeding is contemplated against him. On 15th October, 1 978 this order of suspension was however revoked. On 15th January, ,1 980 a charge-sheet was issued by the respondent nos. 3 to the petitioner and this charge-sheet contained the following charges : "1. Had failed to collect the excess charges due from 5 passengers travelling in Coach Nos. 7l21 and 7134 without a proper ticket till such time they were detected by the Vigilance Squad of the Railway Board. 2. Had failed to collect the lower excess charges from the above five (5) passengers who intimated him prior to detection as per section 113 of the Indian Railway, Act but. collected only the actual fare and other charges. 3. Had failed to issue EFT immediately for Rs. 50/ received from passengers holding platform tickets why were allotted berth no. 4 7 in Coach No. 7134 4. Had overlooked the priority of a long distance passenger travelling from Gauhati against N. F. Railway quota, and. allotted berth to an unreserved passengers with platform tickets. 5. Had willfully non-co-operated with the Vigilance Special squad after he was detected of: the irregularities and caused obstructions to its lawful discharge of duties and adopted vague and dilatory tactics. 6. Had failed to produce his Rough Journal Book for inspection when demanded by the Vigilance Special Squad. " Along with the charge-sheet a statement of imputations of misconduct in respect of each of the charges framed against the petitioner was also given. list of documents on the basis of which the articles of charges were framed against the petitioner and the charges levelled against the petitioner are proposed to be substantiated have also been given. In the list the following documents amongst other things, are referred to : "1. Local EFT Nos. 697020 to 697027 in book No. 697000 to 697049. 2. Foreign EFT No. 628615: in book No. 628600 to 628649. 5. Original and amended chart of coach no. 7124 and 7134 (5 pages ). "
(3.) THIS charge sheet has been annexed as Annexure A to the petition. On 2 7th February, 1980 the petitioner sent a letter to the divisional Commercial Superintendent that on going through the records he could not find the following documents, that is, amended chart of coach no. 1 and coach no. 2 as amended by him. It has been stated that the amended chart which is presented in the file does not belong to him, but it belongs to the South Central Railways staff X-Wal-BZA. Secondly, EFT passenger foil taken from the local and foreign EFT book 697020 (local) 628614 (foreign) by the: Rly. Board Vigilance people. This letter has been annexed as Annexure D to the Writ petition.;