INDERPREET SINGH KAHLON AND ORS. versus STA TE OF PUNJAB AND ORS.

Citation: [2006] SUPP. 1 S.C.R. 772 · Decided: 03-05-2006 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.B. SINHA · Disposal: Disposed off

Judgment (excerpt)

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B 
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INDERPREET SINGH KAHLON AND ORS. 
v. 
STA TE OF PUNJAB AND ORS. 
MAY 3, 2006 
[S.B. SINHA AND DAL VEER BHANDARI, JJ.) 
Service Law. 
Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970: Rule 23. 
Civil Services-Recruitment through State public Service Commission--
Mass corruption-En masse termination of appointments-Tainted candidates 
and non-tainted candidates-Separation and segregation of--Chairman State 
Public Service Commission alleged to have appointed a large number of 
D persons on extraneous considerations including monetary consideration---
Vigi/ance Bureau of the State wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary alleging 
that most of the examinations held during the period of the said Chairman 
were tainted-The services of the nominated candidate5 (Class I Officers) 
were terminated simpliciter i.e. by terminating the probation-Full Bench 
dismissed the writ petition filed by the aggrieved candidates--Correctness 
E of-Held: An appointment made in violation of Arts. 14 and 16 of the 
Constitution would be void-It would be a nullity-But before such a finding 
can be arrived at the appointing authority must take into consideration the 
foundational facts-Only when such foundational facts are established, the 
legal principles can be applied-It was not impossible for the State to 
separate the innocent people from the tainted ones-Jn the event it is found 
F to be impossible or highly improbable to separate tainted cases from the non-
tainted cases, en-masse orders of termination could have been issued-High 
Court judgment set aside-Matter remitted to High Court for consideration 
ajresh--Constitution of India, 1950. Arts. /.I and 16. 
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Practice and Procedure : 
Hearing of matter-Propriety of Judges-Mass corruption-En masses 
termination of appointments-principles of natural justice--Chief Justice of 
High Court constituted two committees chaired by two senior Judges to look 
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INOERPREET SINGH KAHLON v. STATE OF PUNJAB 
773 
into allegation of illegal appointments-The said committees recommended A 
cancellation of appointments-Full Court accepted the recommendation-
Writ petitions filed by the aggrieved candidates came up for hearing before 
a Full Bench-Two of !he members of !he Full Bench were Chairman of the 
two committees appoinled by !he Chief Justice-However, the counsel for the 
writ petitioners stated /hat !hey had no objection lo 1he said Judges hearing B 
the writ pelition-Ultimately the writ petitions dismissed-Correctness of-
Held: (Per Sinha, J, Bhandari, J dissenling)-Two senior Judges who had 
headed the committees should not have been made part of the Bench-It was 
not a case where /he doctrine of necessity was required to be invoked-Writ 
petitioners might have waived their rights to objecl to !he said Judges-But 
ii was clearly a case where /he Judges should have recused lhemselves from C 
hearing the matter-II was for them to remind lhemselves 1ha1 justice is not 
only done bul manifestly seen to be done-High Courl judgment se/ aside-
Matter remitted to High Courl for consideration afresh. 
Doctrines : 
"Doctrine of Waiver'' Experienced. 
Certain allegations were made against the Chairman of the Punjab Public 
Service Commission that, during his tenure between 1996 and 2002, he got 
D 
a large number of persons appointed on extraneous consideration including 
monetary consideration. Result sheets of the nominated candidates were seized. E 
The Vigilance Bureau of the State wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary, 
alleging that most of the examinations held during the period of the said 
Chairman were tainted. So far as the nominated candidates were concerned, 
the Vigilance Department of the State received the answer sheets for the 1998 
examination and sent a report to the investigating agency. On the same day F 
itself the nominated candidates were given charge of the Executive Magistrate 
but, on the next day, the Vigilance Bureau on purported receipt of the details 
of interview of the nominated candidates sent a note to the Chief Secretary 
whereupon orders of termination were passed. All the officers in the category 
of nominated executive officers were about to complete their period of 
probation. The services of the nominated candidates (Class I Offers) were G 
terminated simpliciter purported to be in terms of the Punjab Civil Services 
(Punishment and appeal) Rules, 1970 i.e., by terminating the probation. 
The appellants comprised of four categories of officer

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