AJAY KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in this application under . Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India has challenged this order of his transfer from the post of Managing Director of Bihar State Ware-housing Corporation (hereinafter referred to as 'the State Corporation') to the post of Joint Secretary, in the Department of Food, Supply and 3 Commerce, Government of Bihar, contained in the notification dated 15th March, 1983, issued under the order of the Governor of Bihar as well as the order placing the services of Shri Deo Narain Chaudhary (respondent No. 7) to the Department of Co-operation for appointing him as Managing Director of the State Corporation in accordance with law contained in the notification of the same date issued under the orders of the Governor of Bihar, true copies whereof are Annexures 7 and 6 respectively to this application.

(2.) The petitioner who is a Member of the Indian Administrative Service was appointed as Managing Director of the State Corporation by notification dated 6-11-1981, a true copy whereof is Aunexure G to the supplementary counter-affidavit filed on behalf of respondent No. 1, the State of Bihar. The petitioner joined the aforesaid post on 7-11-1981. His appointment was subsequently approved by the Central Warehousing Corporation (hereinafter referred to as 'the Central Corporation') though the appointment of the petitioner should have been made with the previous approval of the Central Corporation under section 20 (1) (c) of the Warehousing Corporations Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that as soon as he joined the said post he began to examine the functioning of the State Corporation and during the course of examination he detected a number of illegalities and irregularities committed on the part of the Chairman, Shri Thakur Kamakhya Prasad Singh (respondent No. 6), which the petitioner wanted to stop. He also discovered that respondent No. 6 drew allowances from the State Corporation illegally even for the days for which he bad drawn allowances from the Assembly as a Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Respondent No. 6 also got issued several letters of appointment to several other persons through the Sectional Officer who was not competent to issue the letters. The petitioner terminated the services of all such persons. The discovery of acts of illegalities and irregularities committed by respondent No. 6 and insistence by the petitioner on the strict observance of the rules made respondent No. 6 completely hostile and inimical to him and out of malice, spite and anger and as a matter of tactics in order to exert political pressure and scape the consequences of his numerous misconducts he addressed a letter dated 25-11-1981 to the Chief Minister, making all kinds of false and unfounded allegations against the petitioner and his family. In the aforesaid letter he requested the Chief Minister to replace the petitioner by another person. The Chief Minister without any enquiry or further proof passed order on the said letter directing the removal of the petitioner. A true copy of the aforesaid letter with the order of the Chief Minister thereon has been annexed as Annexure 4 to the writ application. When the aforesaid order of the Chief Minister was not acted upon, respondent No. 6 sent letter of resignation from Chairmanship of the State Corporation dated 31-12-1981 to the Chief Minister again making all sorts of false and wild allegations against the petitioner, a true copy whereof is Annexure 5 to this writ application. Even after his resignation took effect after a lapse of 60 days by operation of law, respondent No. 6 continued to exert his political pressure in order to harass the petitioner and managed to secure an order in Sept., 1982 from the Secretary to the Chief Minister addressed to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, to post Shri Ashok Kumar, I.A.S., as Managing Director in place of the petitioner, but this also could not materialise because of the protest made by the Minister of Department of Mines where Shri Ashok Kumar was posted Thereafter respondent No. 6 managed another direction to the Chief Secretary on a buff-sheet from the Secretary to the Chief Minister at the be best of the latter to appoint Shri D.N. Choudhary, B.A.S. (respondent No. 7) as Managing Director whose proposal for appointment on the said post was previously examined and he was not found fit for the post by the Department of Personnel, but still the notification dated 15-3-1983 (impugned annexures) transferring the petitioner to the Department of Food, Supply and Commerce and to appoint respondent No. 7 in his place were issued. The aforesaid notifications have been issued without previous approval of the Central Corporation in contravention of section 20(1) (c) and 22 of the Act. The orders contained in the aforesaid notifications have been characterised as mala fide and they have been passed by the Chief Minister under pressure of respondent No. 6. The petitioner has claimed that he has brought about creditable achievements in the condition of the State Corporation which would be borne also by letter dated 21-3-1983 written by Mr. N. K. Garg, the Managing Director of the Central Corporation to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, a true copy whereof has been annexed and marked as Annexure 9 to the writ application. It has further been averred in the writ application that the Central Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Government of India, wrote a D. O. letter dated 30-9-1982 to the Chief Minister, Bihar, urging upon him not to make quick changes in the incumbency of Chief Executive of the State Corporation, namely, the Managing Director which would not be conducive to the efficient working of the organisation, a true copy whereof has been annexed as Annexure 10 to the writ application.