DEPARTMENTAL ENQUIRY.

yogendra borse

1. It is desirable to explain as clearly as possible what is necessary to be done in the way of departmental enquiry where a prosecution is or is likely to be ins- tituted. It has been found that where fraud or embezzlement of Government funds has occurred, there is a tendency for the head of the office. or Department to regard the institution of criminal proceedings as absol- ving him from the unpleasant and often labourious task of conducting immediately a thorough departmental en- quiry. This material reluctance may be enhanced by an apprehension that an enquiry may prejudice the result of the trial in a Court of Law. As a result, there has sometimes been great delay in taking departmental proceedings and the results have been inconclusive. Departmental enquiries should not necessarily be de layed pending decision of criminal cases, as at a later stage the evidence might disappear and the departmeny al enquiry could not be brought to any conclusion at all.

2. Experience shows that departmental proceedings cannot as a rule proceed concurrently with a criminal prosecution. Much of the evidence in a case of fraud or embezzlement is documentary. As soon as the crimi- nal proceedings begin the documents go to the Court as exhibits, and there they must remain till the case is over and (if an appeal is filed) till the appeal is over). But it is essential that everything should be done to carry the departmental proceedings as far as possible before prosecution begins. The stage to which departmental proceedings, prior to prosecution should be taken must depend on circumstances and cannot be precisely defined. The normal procedure is laid down in Rule 55 of the Civil Services (Classification Control and Appeal) Rules, and the stage which departmental pro- ceedings can reach may according to circumstances be any one of the stages described or implied in the Rule 1, 1.e. the preliminary recording of evidence, the receipt of the delinquent's written statement after the framing of a charge, the personal hearing or the enquiry. If it is intended to prosecute, a finding and sentence should not be recorded in the departmental proceedings till after the disposal of the criminal case but it must be emphasised that the proceedings should be comple- ted unto the point that can properly be reached.

3. A common type of case is that where a number of persons are involved one or more criminally and others, in such circumstances as show negligence, or warrant the suspicion of criminal abatement without sufficient roof to justify prosecution or have similar features which necessiate a criminal prosecution of one or more and a departmental enquiry against others. In such cases, the authority has sometimes neglected to insti- tute a formal departmental enquiry or to carry it to the requisite stage, before criminal proceedings are taken, with the result that many when the criminal case is over, effective departmental action has been found impracticable.

4. The general rule should be that in all cases of fraud, embezzlement, or similar offences, departmental proceedings should be instituted at the earliest possi- ble moment against all the delicuents and conducted eith strict adherence to the rules up to the point at which prosecution of any of the deliquents begins. At that stage, it must be specifically considered whether further conduct of the departmental proceedings against any of the remaining deliquents is practicable, if it is, it should continue as far as possible (which will not to a rule, include finding and sentence).

If the accused is convicted the departmental pro- ceedings against him should be resumed and formally completed. If the accused is not convicted the depart mental proceedings against him should be dropped unless the authority competent to take disciplinary action is of the opinion that the facts of the case disclose ade- quate grounds or taking departmental action against him. In either case the proceedings against the remaining delicuents should be resumed and completed as soon as possible after the termination of the proceedings in Court.

5. The proceedings contemplated in these instructions are those which are regulated by the Civil Services (Classification, Control and. Appeal) Rules. Where ac- tion is taken under the Public Servants (Inquiries) s Act XXXVII of 1850, this ordinarily take the place of a criminal prosecution as regards the person or persons accused, but the procedure as regards other persons in- volved against whom the Act is not employed should be in accordance with the instructions given above.