Case: State Of Punjab Vs. V.K. Khanna

2. The concept of fairness in administrative action has been the subject matter of considerable judicial debate but there is total unanimity on the basic element of the concept to the effect that the same is dependant upon the facts and circumstances of each matter pending scrutiny before the Court and no straight jacket formula can be evolved therefor. As a matter of fact fairness is synonymous with reasonableness : And on the issue of ascertainment of meaning of reasonableness, common English parlance referred to as what is in contemplation of an ordinary man of prudence similarly placed - it is the appreciation of this common mans perception in its proper perspective which would prompt the Court to determine the situation as to whether the same is otherwise reasonable or not.3. It is worthwhile to recapitulate that in a democratic polity, the verdict of the people determines the continuance of an elected Government - a negative trend in the elections brings forth a change in the Government - it is on this formula that on dominant political party overturns another dominant political party and thereby places itself at the helm of the affairs in the matter of the formation of a new Government after the election.4. The dispute in the appeals pertain to the last phase of the earlier Government and the first phase of the present Government in the State of Punjab : Whereas the former Chief Secretary of the State of Punjab upon obtaining approval from the then Chief Minister of Punjab initiated proceedings against two senior colleagues of his in the Punjab State Administration but with the new induction of Shri Prakash Singh Badal as the Chief Minister of Punjab, not only the Chief Secretary had to walk out of the administrative building but a number seventeen officer in the hierarchy of officers of Indian Administrative Service and working in the State of Punjab as a bureaucrat, was placed as the Chief Secretary and within a period of 10 days of his entry at the Secretariat, a notification was issued, though with the authority and consent of the Chief Minister pertaining to cancellation of two earlier notifications initiating a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry - The charges being acquisition of assets much beyond the known source of income and grant of sanction of a Government plot to Punjab Cricket Control Board for the purposes of Stadium at Mohali. A worthwhile recapitulation thus depict that a Government servant in the Indian Administrative Service being charged with acquiring assets beyond the known source of income and while one particular Government initiates an enquiry against such an acquisition, the other Government within 10 days of its installation withdraws the notification - is this fair ? The High Court decried it and attributed it to be a motive improper and mala fide and hence the appeal before this Court.The charge-sheet, however, stands challenged before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench by Shri V.K. Khanna, the former Chief Secretary to the Punjab Government since 2nd July, 1996 and continued to be so under the Government headed by Mrs. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as the Chief Minister. The Tribunal, however, answered the issue against Shri Khanna upon due reliance on the decision of this Court in the case of Union of India and another v. Ashok Kacker, 1995 SCC (L&S) 375 wherein this Court in paragraph 4 of the report was pleased to observeAdmittedly, the respondent has not yet submitted his reply to the charge-sheet and the respondent rushed to the Central Administrative Tribunal merely on the information that a charge-sheet to this effect was to be issued to him. The Tribunal entertained the respondents application at that premature stage and quashed the charge-sheet issued during the pendency of the matter before the Tribunal on a ground which even the learned counsel for the respondent made an attempt to support. The respondent has the full opportunity to reply to the charge-sheet and to raise all the points available to him including those which are now urged on his behalf by learned counsel for the respondent. In our opinion, this was not the stage at which the Tribunal ought to have entertained such an application for quashing the charge-sheet and appropriate course for the respondent to adopt is to file his reply to the charge-sheet and invite the decision of the disciplinary authority thereon. This being the stage at which the respondent had rushed to the Tribunal, we do not consider it necessary to require the Tribunal at this stage to examine any other point which may be available to the respondent or which may have been raised by him.It is on the basis of the aforesaid observations that the Tribunal came to a finding that since Shri Khanna will have full opportunity to reply to the charge-sheet and all points are available be agitated before the Inquiry Officer, it is not the stage at which the Tribunal would like to quash the charge-sheet as it stands against him and the appropriate course for him would be to file a reply to the charge-sheet and invite the decision of the disciplinary authority thereon. The Tribunal also recorded that during the course of hearing before the Tribunal, it has been made known by both the parties that the Inquiry Officer has already been appointed by the State of Punjab and he happened to be a retired Honble Judge of the High Court and it is on this perspective the apprehensions of the applicant Shri Khanna should be allayed and resultantly the Tribunal dismissed the OA No. 651/CH of 1997. The matter was thereafter taken to the High Court and the High Court recorded the core controversy in the matter to be as belowthe action of the respondents in issuing the impugned charge-sheet to the petitioner like using a hammer to swat a fly on his forehead ? Are the respondents merely talking of principles, but actually acting on interestThe High Court came to a definite conclusion about high-handed, arbitrary and mala fide approach towards Shri Khanna, being the respondent No. 1 herein and answered both the issues as raised in the affirmative and thus resultantly the appeal before this Court by the grant of special leave.

Court's reasoning:
40. As noticed above malafide intent or biased attitude cannot be put on a straight jacket formula but depend upon facts and circumstances of each case and in that perspective judicial precedents would not be of any assistance and as such we refrain from further dealing with various decision cited from the Bar since facts are otherwise different in each of the decisions.