C.W.P. No.12941 of 1991 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.12941 of 1991 Date of Decision: 09.12.2010 Capt. D.K. Singla ……Petitioner Versus The State of Punjab and others ……Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI -.- Present: Mr. Nitin Chopra, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. S.S. Gill, D.A.G., Punjab. 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? AJAY TEWARI, J. (ORAL) By this petition the petitioner has challenged the adverse confidential report recorded for the year 1979-80. One consequence of this adverse report was that the petitioner was asked to show cause as to why he should not be debarred from crossing efficiency bar for 4 years. It is not disputed that thereafter the petitioner was allowed to cross the efficiency bar in the normal course. Apart from that it must be noticed that the petitioner was inducted in the service C.W.P. No.12941 of 1991 -2- in the year 1975 as Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer. In the circumstances, he must have retired now. The argument raised is that a similar adverse remark was recorded by the same Reporting Officer for the year 1980-81 but the same was not accepted right up to the Government. He thus stated that there should not have been any difference since the impugned confidential report was initiated by the same officer. The views of the authorities on the impugned A.C.R. are as follows:- i) The Reporting Officer mentioned that:- “General assessment: He is a good officer but he should improve his reputation for integrity.” ii) The Reviewing Officer mentioned that:- “I agree with the A.E.T.C. that Sh. Singla is a good officer. I have, however, no reason to doubt his integrity.” iii) The matter was then put up to the Commissioner who noted that:- “Shri Singla is a smart and energetic officer. Given proper guidance he can generally be expected to deliver the goods. He is intelligent and there was no complaint against him.” iv) Thereafter the matter was then put up to the Government where it was noted that:- “Too clever by half. I am inclined to agree with AETC that he is man of doubtful integrity.” C.W.P. No.12941 of 1991 -3- In my view, no fault can be found with the impugned Annual Confidential Report. It is not for this Court to sit in judgment over the performance of an officer which it has never seen. Moreover, the only deleterious effect viz. delay in crossing efficiency bar has been mitigated. The Court is also not unmindful of the fact that petitioner must have retired by now. Further the argument that the earlier adverse integrity A.C.R. was not accepted and had been initiated by the same officer would cut both ways. The fact that for a subsequent period the Government accepted the A.C.R. could also show that when the relief was to be granted to the petitioner the same was granted and for the year that relief was not to be granted to the petitioner the same was denied. In the circumstances, writ petition is dismissed. ( AJAY TEWARI ) December 09, 2010 JUDGE ashish