TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (7) TMI 37
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....ere issued to the Union Revenue Secretary to place the entire mater before the disciplinary authority, who had to monitor the whole inquiry proceedings, which were pending before the Inquiry Officer-respondent No.3 herein, keeping in view the law laid down by the Apex Court in Prem Nath Bali Vs. High Court of Delhi & others, (2015) 16 SCC 415 . 3. Senior counsel for the petitioner strenuously submitted that the Tribunal was in error in not staying the departmental proceedings while placing reliance upon the judgments of the Apex Court Kusheshwar Dubey Vs. Ms Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. and others, (1988) 4 SCC 319; M/s Stanzen Toyotetsu India P. Ltd. Vs. Girish V and others, (2014) 1 SCC (L&S) 641 and Capt. M. Paul Anthony Vs. Bharat Gold Mines Ltd., (1999) 3 SCC 679. He submitted that since the petitioner was being prosecuted on the criminal side and a charge-sheet had been framed under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, his defence would be prejudiced in case the departmental proceedings are allowed to continue. 4. It was, accordingly, contended that Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as '1965 Rule....
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.... by the Superintendent of Police, CBI, New Delhi, at Police Station, CBI, New Delhi, against the petitioner who was then working as a Commissioner of Income Tax at Ahmedabad. The same was on account of the fact that his assets have grown grossly disproportionate to his known sources of income from the year 1999 onwards. Criminal proceedings were initiated against him by noting the assets which had been acquired by him, his father, mother and son from 01.04.1999 to 28.02.2005. The properties which were acquired by them are as under:- S.No. Particulars Period of acquisition Amount in Rs. 1. DDA flat category-III, Dwarka, New Delhi Year 2003 4,70,520/- 2. Flatn No.H, 4th floor, Surya Kiran Building, The Mall, Ludhiana Year 2003 18,65,000/- 3. Agricultural land at village Fatehgarh Panjgrain Tehsil Dhuri, 7 Biswas (son) Year 2003 74,200/- 4. Agricultural land at village Fatehgarh Panjgrain Tehsil Dhuri, 1 Bigha 1 Biswa (son) Year 2003 55,850/- 5. Agricultural land at village Fatehgarh Panjgrain Tehsil Dhuri, 5 Bighas (son) Year 2004 3,12,440/- 6. House No.847, Guru Nanak Colony Tehsil Malerkotla (faher) Ye....
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.... Shri Baldev Singh Sandhu while working as a public servant in different capacities at different places in the Income Tax Department during the period 01.04.1999 to 14.04.2005, by abusing his official position and by corrupt and illegal means, acquired moveable and immovable assets in the name of self and his family members during the said period that were disproportionate to the tune of Rs.2,59,43,921/- to his known legal sources of income which he has not been able to explain. Shri Baldev Singh Sandhu had made investments during the period 01.04.1999 to 14.04.2005 in the various moveable and immovable properties as mentioned in the statement of moveable and and immovable assets (Statement- B) without obtaining any prior permission of giving any intimation in this regard to his competent authority in violation of the provisions of Rule 18(2) and 18(3) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964. By his aforesaid act, Shri Baldev Singh Sandhu, Commissioner of Income Tax failed to maintain absolute integrity, devotion to duty and acted in a manner unbecoming of a public servant and thereby contraended the provisions of Rule 3(1)(i), 3(1) (ii) and 3(1)(iii) of CCS (Conduct) Ru....
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....d we hope and expect that the applicant would also co-operate in the proceedings. 6. No costs." 12. The Tribunal has noticed that various inquiry officers have changed and it is a matter of fact that the petitioner also retired on 30.09.2015 and, therefore, at this stage the threat as such of dismissal will no longer loom over him. It is to be seen that many times departmental proceedings are sought to be stayed on this ground, if the same are conducted expeditiously, which might result in dismissal of the employee, whereas on criminal side he might get the benefit of acquittal on the same set of allegations. 13. Obviously notice having been served by respondent No.3 on 11.02.2021 (Annexure A-9) upon the petitioner to come forth in the departmental proceedings, had led to the change of heart. It is to be noticed that prior to this on 07.05.2015 (Annexure A-16) charge was framed by the Special Judge, CBI, Patiala. The order framing the charge reads as under:- "Charge-sheet I, Kanwaljit Singh Bajwa, Special Judge, CBI, Punjab, Patiala, do hereby charge you accused Baldev Singh Sandhu, Bhagwan Singh Sandhu, Gurdial Singh Sandhu, Karamjeet Kaur and Ravi....
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.... side. Similarly, the charge of maintaining absolute integrity in the duty and had acting in a manner unbecoming of public servants as contravened the provisions of service rules and nothing is interconnected with criminal proceedings and, therefore, the departmental proceedings are operating within a different framework. 16. In similar circumstances the coordinate Bench of this Court in Dr. Balwinder Kumar Sharma Vs. Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court, through Registrar General and another, 2021 (3) SCT 25 wherein similar prayer was made, had dismissed the writ petition on the ground that highest standards of propriety and moral conduct of the Registrar (Recruitment) which was to be maintained, was another aspect before the departmental proceedings and it was not to be gone into and punished on the criminal side. It was also held after taking into consideration the judgments which have been cited by the learned Senior counsel herein also that the grant or decline of stay on the criminal side always depends on the facts of the case and there is no straight jacket formula. 17. Similar observations have also flowed from the Apex Court in the case of Kusheshwar Dubey (sup....