Case: Nirmala J. Jhala Vs. State Of Gujarat &amp; Anr

A. That the appellant had joined the Gujarat State Judicial Service in 1978, and was promoted subsequently as Civil Judge (Senior Division) in 1992. She was posted as Chief Judicial Magistrate (Rural) in Ahmedabad. In December 1991, she was trying one Gautam Ghanshyam Jani in CBI Case No.5 of 1991 for the offence of misappropriation and embezzlement of public money. The accused filed a complaint with the CBI on 19.8.1993, against the appellant alleging that she had demanded a sum of Rs.20,000/- on 17.8.1993 as illegal gratification, to pass order in his favour, through one C.B. Gajjar, Advocate. As it was not possible for the complainant to pay the said amount, the appellant had agreed to accept the same in installments, and in order to facilitate the saidefforts to arrange the said amount in part, she had even granted adjournment.B. The said complaint filed with the CBI was referred to the High Court and in pursuance thereof, a preliminary enquiry was conducted against the appellant in which statements of various persons including C.B. Gajjar and G.G. Jani were recorded. The Court then suspended the appellant vide order dated 21.1.1994, and directed a regular enquiry appointing Shri M.C. Patel, Additional Civil Judge, City Civil Court, Ahmedabad as the Enquiry Officer.C. A chargesheet dated 6.8.1994, containing 12 charges was served upon the appellant. One of the main charges was, the demand of illegal gratification to the tune of Rs.20,000/- from G.G. Jani through C.B. Gajjar, Advocate in lieu of favouring the complainant/accused. Another relevant charge was that a person known asamongst the litigants, would come to her residence, accompany her to court, and collect money from litigants on her behalf and thus, she had indulged in corrupt practices.D. During the course of the enquiry, G.G. Jani, C.B. Gajjar, P.K. Pancholi and certain other witnesses were examined by the department and in her defence, the appellant examined herself denying all the allegations made against her. The Enquiry Officer submitted his report on 24.10.1997, holding the appellant guilty of the first charge and partially guilty of the second charge, i.e. to the extent that one person namedused to visit her quite frequently. However, it could not be proved that he had ever misused his association with the appellant in any respect. All other charges were found unsubstantiated.E. In pursuance of the report submitted by the Enquiry Officer, the matter was examined on the administrative side by the High Court, and after meeting various legal requirements i.e. issuing show cause notice to the appellant and considering her reply, the Court vide resolution dated 12.10.1998, made a recommendation to the State that the appellant was guilty of the first charge, and thus, punishment of compulsory retirement be imposed on her. The Government accepted the same and issued a notification giving compulsory retirement to the appellant on 11.12.1998.F. Aggrieved, the appellant challenged the said order of punishment, by filing a Special Civil Application No.5759 of 1999 before the High Court on the ground that the findings of the Enquiry Officer were perverse and based on no evidence. However, the said civil application was dismissed by the High Court, vide impugned judgment and order dated 25.8.2004.Hence, this appeal.

Court's reasoning:
The High Court has rightly disbelieved the statement of the complainant-accused that he could hear the conversation between the appellant and Shri Gajjar. The said evidence was also discarded by the Enquiry Officer. Further allegation that the appellant had threatened the said complainant-accused to withdraw the complaint was also found to be false. The entry of Shri C.B. Gajjar into the chamber of the appellant on 17.8.1993, was not corroborated by any other evidence. Shri C.B. Gajjar himself had also denied the same.More so, the High Court has reached the conclusion by shifting the burden of proof of negative circumstances upon the appellant. The High Court has erred by holding that in respect of the incident dated 17.8.1993 i.e. demand of amount, it was the duty of the appellant to explain the said circumstance, and that instead of giving any satisfactory explanation in respect of entry of Shri C.B. Gajjar, she had completely disowned and denied any such occurrence. The onus was always on the department to prove the said circumstance. The court should have also taken note of the fact, that the matter was adjourned for 28.8.1993, and being a 4th Saturday, it was a holiday. The court further committed an error by holding, that the failure to challenge the most crucial element of the evidence, regarding the incident of 17.8.1993, in respect of a demand of bribe of Rs.20,000/- fully justified the findings of the Enquiry Officer. Again, the High Court shifted the onus to prove a negative circumstance on the appellant.18. The appellant had not married at that point of time, as per her statement. Even this fact has been admitted by Shri C.B. Gajjar, Advocate. Given the above set of facts, the complainant is seen talking abouthusband for collecting money on her behalf. The High Court had failed to notice the above fact and had been making attempts to keep aside all such relevant factors in a case, where there was no directis evident that the evidence recorded in preliminary inquiry cannot be used in regular inquiry as the delinquent is not associated with it, and opportunity to cross-examine the persons examined in such inquiry is not given. Using such evidence would be violative of the principles of naturalThe High Court failed to appreciate that the appellant had not granted long adjournments to the accused-complainant as the appellant wanted to conclude the trial at the earliest. The case of accused-complainant which was taking its time, had suddenly gathered pace, thus, he would have naturally felt aggrieved by failing to notice it. The High Court erred in recording a finding that the complainant had no ill-will or motive to make any allegation against the appellant.ii) The Enquiry Officer, the High Court on administrative side as well as on judicial side, committed a grave error in placing reliance on the statement of the complainant as well as of Shri C.B. Gajjar, Advocate, recorded in a preliminary enquiry. The preliminary enquiry and its report loses significance/importance, once the regular enquiry is initiated by issuing chargesheet to the delinquent. Thus, it was all in violation of the principles of natural justice.iii) The High Court erred in shifting the onus of proving various negative circumstances as referred to hereinabove, upon the appellant who was delinquent in the enquiry.iv) The onus lies on the department to prove the charge and it failed to examine any of the employee of the court, i.e., Stenographer, Bench Secretary or Peon attached to the office of the appellant for proving the entry of Shri Gajjar, Advocate in her chamber on 17.8.1993.v) The complainant has been disbelieved by the Enquiry Officer as well as the High Court on various issues, particularly on the point of his personal hearing, the conversation between the appellant and Shri C.B. Gajjar, Advocate on 17.8.1993, when they met in the chamber.vi) Similarly, the allegation of the complainant, that appellant had threatened him through his wife, forcing him to withdraw the complaint against her, has been disbelieved.vii) The complainant as well as Shri C.B. Gajjar, Advocate had been talking about thehusband having collecting the amount on behalf of the appellant, for deciding the cases, though at that point of time, she was unmarried.viii) There is nothing on record to show that the appellant whose defence has been disbelieved in toto, had ever been given any adverse entry in her ACRs, or punished earlier in any enquiry. While she has been punished solely on uncorroborated statement of an accused facing trial for