Himachal Pradesh High Court
Rajinder Kumar & Ors vs State Of H.P. & Ors on 25 April, 2023
Author: Jyotsna Rewal Dua
Bench: Jyotsna Rewal Dua
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA CWPOA No.106 of 2020 Decided on: 25th April, 2023 .
_________________________________________________________________ Rajinder Kumar & Ors ....Petitioners Versus State of H.P. & Ors. ...Respondents _________________________________________________________________ Coram Hon'ble Ms. Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge 1 Whether approved for reporting? Yes _________________________________________________________________ For the petitioner: Mr. Vijay Bir Singh, Advocate.
For the respondents: Mr. Y. P. S. Dhaulta & Mr. Navlesh Verma, Additional Advocates General and Ms. Seema Sharma, Mr. Sumit Sharma and Ms. Leena Guleria, Deputy Advocates General.
Jyotsna Rewal Dua, Judge CMP(T) No. 796 of 2021 Allowed and disposed of.
CWPOA No. 106 of 20202. With the consent of the parties, the matter is heard at this stage.
3. The projected case of the petitioners is that their services of all the petitioners were terminated by the 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -2-respondents on 18.08.1987 on the ground that their JBT certificates were found fake and bogus. The petitioners instituted Original Application No. 346 of 1987 before the .
erstwhile Himachal Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, against termination of their services. Several other OAs were also instituted by similarly placed persons. The Original Application was allowed on 26.09.1995. The termination of the services of the petitioners was held to be illegal and invalid. The respondents were directed to reinstate the petitioners forthwith.
4. The judgment passed by the learned Tribunal was assailed by the respondents-State before the Hon'ble Apex Court in Civil Appeal Nos. 7835-7842 of 1996. The Hon'ble Apex Court modified the judgment of the Tribunal with following order passed on 09.12.1997: -
"The High Court allowed the writ petitions of the respondents mainly on the ground that the contesting respondents have not been given an opportunity to show that their appointments were on the basis of correct and genuine certificates and not on false/fake certificates as alleged by the appellants (vide para 22 of the Judgment). There is no ground to interfere with the Tribunal's Judgment except to modify it slightly with the direction to the appellants to give an opportunity to the respondents individually to show cause and establish that the ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -3- certificates were not false and fake and that their appointments were on the basis of genuine certificates. As and when they establish the fact that the certificates were genuine and not faked ones, it must be taken that .
their appointments were valid. In view of the long pendency of the matter, the appellants are directed to commence and complete the enquiry within six months. The appeals are disposed of accordingly. No costs."
Pursuant to the afore directions of the Hon'ble Apex Court dated 09.12.1997, the respondents appointed an Inquiry Officer to examine the genuineness of the JBT certificates of the concerned candidates, including the petitioners. According to the respondents, they also published list of all the candidates, including those who had filed the Original Applications before the erstwhile Tribunal, in the newspapers about the inquiry proceedings being conducted for verifying the genuineness of the JBT certificates of the candidates at District Headquarters. The petitioners and other candidates were asked through issuance of show cause notices to appear in person before the Inquiry Officer to establish the veracity of genuineness of the JBT certificates possessed by them. This was in terms of the order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 19.12.1997.
The Inquiry Officer submitted his report on 09.09.1998. In ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -4- terms of the reply filed by the respondents to the present petition, 'the petitioners and other similar candidates were informed individually regarding veracity of genuineness of .
certificates possessed by them vide letter dated 27.01.2000, that the certificates possessed by them were found false and fake and that they had no claim for appointment as JBT Teachers in Himachal Pradesh.'
5. It appears from the record that the petitioners and other similarly r situated persons were prosecuted for committing different offences in the Court of learned Special Judge (F), Shimla. In Criminal Trial No.23-S/7 of 2000, learned Court on 25.09.2006, acquitted the accused persons of the offences under Sections 420, 471 read with Section 120B of Indian Penal Code and also under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In another case i.e. Trial No. 11-S/7 of 2000, learned Special Judge (F) Shimla on 31.12.2011 acquitted the accused persons of the offences under Sections 120B, 420 and 471 of Indian Penal Code. It is an admitted position that these judgments have now attained finality.
The present petition has been filed by the ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -5- petitioners on 06.09.2016, essentially seeking their reinstatement with all consequential benefits on the basis of judgment passed by learned Special Judge (F) Shimla, .
acquitting them of the charges levelled against them in the criminal cases. Substantive prayers made in the petition run as under: -
"(i) That the impugned orders of termination of the applicants, Annexure A-1, may very kindly be quashed and set aside.
(ii) That the impugned rejection order dated 28.06.2016 (Annexure A-7) passed by respondent No.2 may kindly be quashed and set aside and respondents may kindly be directed to re-engage the services of the applicants immediately withal consequential benefits of pay, arrears, seniority and pension."
6. I have heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned Additional Advocate General for the respondents.
In Special Leave Petition (C) No. 678 of 2021 (Imtiyaz Ahmad Malla Vs. State of Jammu & Kashmir) decided on 28.02.2023, the Hon'ble Apex Court reiterated that if a person is acquitted or discharged, it cannot always be inferred that he was falsely involved. Unless it is an honourable acquittal, the candidates cannot claim the benefit of the same. The acquittal in a criminal case is not conclusive ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -6- of the suitability of the candidates in the post concerned.
Acquittal in a criminal case does not automatically entitle him for appointment to the post. It is open to the employer to .
consider the antecedents and examine whether he is suitable for appointment to the post. Relevant part from the judgment reads as under: -
"12. In Pradeep Kumar's case (supra) also it was reiterated that if a person is acquitted or discharged, it cannot obviously be inferred that he was falsely involved, or he had no criminal antecedents. The precise observations made therein are re-produced hereunder:
"10. The acquittal in a criminal case is not conclusive of the suitability of the candidates in the post concerned. If a person is acquitted or discharged, it cannot always be inferred that he was falsely involved or he had no criminal antecedents. Unless it is an honourable acquittal, the candidate cannot claim the benefit of the case. What is honourable acquittal, was considered by this Court in Inspector General of Police v. S. Samuthiram [Inspector General of Police v. S. 3 (1994) 1 SCC 541 4 AIR 1964 SC 787 Samuthiram, (2013) 1 SCC 598 : (2013) 1 SCC (Cri) 566 : (2013) 1 SCC (L&S) 229] , in which this Court held as under: (SCC p. 609, para 24) "24. The meaning of the expression "honourable acquittal"
came up for consideration before this Court in RBI v. Bhopal Singh Panchal [RBI v. Bhopal Singh Panchal, (1994) 1 SCC 541 : 1994 SCC (L&S) 594] . In that case, this Court has considered the impact of Regulation 46(4) dealing with honourable acquittal by a criminal court on the disciplinary proceedings. In that context, this Court held that the mere acquittal does not entitle an employee to reinstatement in service, the acquittal, it was held, has to be honourable. The expressions "honourable acquittal", "acquitted of blame", "fully exonerated"
are unknown to the Code of Criminal Procedure or the Penal Code, which are coined by judicial pronouncements. It is difficult to define precisely what is meant by the expression "honourably ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -7- acquitted". When the accused is acquitted after full consideration of prosecution evidence and that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the charges levelled against the accused, it can possibly be said that the accused was honourably acquitted."
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13. It is thus well settled that acquittal in a criminal case does not automatically entitle him for appointment to the post. Still, it is open to the employer to consider the antecedents and examine whether he is suitable for appointment to the post. From the observations of this Court in Mehar Singh [Commr. of Police v. Mehar Singh, (2013) 7 SCC 685 : (2013) 3 SCC (Cri) 669 : (2013) 2 SCC (L&S) 910] and Parvez Khan [State of M.P. v. Parvez Khan, (2015) 2 SCC 591 : (2015) 1 SCC (L&S) 544] cases, it is clear that a candidate to be recruited to the police service must be of impeccable character and integrity. A person having criminal antecedents will not fit in this category. Even if he is acquitted or discharged, it cannot be presumed that he was honourably acquitted/completely exonerated. The decision of the Screening Committee must be taken as final unless it is shown to be mala fide. The Screening Committee also must be alive to the importance of the trust reposed in it and must examine the candidate with utmost character."
7. The facts of the case, as noted above, are not in dispute. The events and facts as submitted by the respondents in their reply have not been countered by the petitioners by filing any rejoinder. The only ground urged for taking back the petitioners into services centres around the ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -8- judgment passed by learned Special Judge (F),Shimla, acquitting the petitioners of the charges levelled against them. The judgment dated 31.12.2011, passed in corruption .
case No. 11-S/7 of 2000 has been placed on record by the petitioners at Annexure A-5. Paragraphs No.30 and 31 of this judgment show that the accused persons have been acquitted by giving them benefit of doubt. The claim of the petitioners to reinstate them in the service as JBT Teachers with consequential benefits cannot be allowed on the strength of the aforesaid judgment of the learned Trial Court. Before the learned Trial Court, the issue was in respect of proving the criminal intention of the accused persons in obtaining false JBT certificates and for establishing commission of offences allegedly committed by them under various provisions of law.
There was no issue before the learned Trial Court regarding adjudication of genuineness of the JBT certificates possessed by the petitioners. Order of acquittal cannot be construed to mean that the JBT certificates of the petitioners were genuine. It was on 21.07.2000 that the petitioners were communicated that their JBT certificates were not genuine and that they were found false and fake. No challenge to the ::: Downloaded on - 26/04/2023 20:35:47 :::CIS -9- aforesaid findings was laid by the petitioners at the appropriate time.
For the aforesaid reasons, there is no merit in the .
present petition. The same is accordingly dismissed. Pending miscellaneous application(s), if any, also to stand disposed of.
Jyotsna Rewal Dua
Judge
April 25, 2023
R.Atal r
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