JOGINDER PAL & ORS. ETC. versus STATE OF PUNJAB & ORS.

Citation: [2014] 6 S.C.R. 383 · Decided: 23-05-2014 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: B.S. CHAUHAN · Disposal: Case Partly allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2014] 6 S.C.R. 383 
JOGINDER PAL & ORS. ETC. 
v . 
. STATE OF PUNJAB & ORS. 
(Civil Appeal Nos. 5589-5605 of 2014) 
MAY 23, 2014 
[DR. 8.5. CHAUHAN AND A.K. SIKRI, JJ.] 
Service law: 
A 
B 
Recruitment -:: Appointment made in Punjab Civil C 
Service, Executive Branch and Allied Services Branch as also 
judicial appointments - Selection process found to be tainted 
and vitiated - Cancellation of the appointments made -
Justification of - Held: Candidates selected with unfair and 
illegal means cannot have the audacity to say that they should 
be reinstated in service and allowed to continue till their D 
appeals are decided - In any case, having found that they 
are tainted candidates and their entry into public service was 
soiled, decision to terminate their services perfectly justified. 
Recruitment -
Appointment made in Punjab Civil E 
Service, Executive Branch and Allied Services Branch as also 
judicial appointments - Entire selection process not found to 
be tainted and vitiated - Cancellation of all the appointments 
made - Challenge to - Matter remitted to High Court for 
consideration afresh - High Court accepting the Committee 
F 
report that entire selection process to be vitiated, dismissed 
the writ petitions of tainted and non-tainted candidates 
challenging termination ·- As regards non-tainted candidates 
it was found that the process of selection itself is a result of 
manipulations carried out by a we/I-planned scheme of G 
deception, forgery and fraud, thus, selection process 
cancelled - Segregation of non-tainted candidates from 
tainted candidates - Permissibility of - Held: Once it was 
383 
H 
384 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2014] 6 S.C.R. 
A accepted that some of the candidates were innocent, who 
entered the service by virtue of their merit and _not because 
of any extraneous considerations and these candidates 
should be segregated from tainted candidates - In order to 
work out the equities and to do complete justice, judicial 
8 
officers found to be untainted to continue in service -
Untainted candidates allowed to join the duties forthwith -
However, the intervening period during which they remained 
out of service not be counted for seniority or any other benefit. 
- They would be given benefit of service rendered by them 
C earlier. 
Appointments were made in the Executive Class-I, 
Allied Services Branch as also of judicial officers. It is 
alleged that the Chairman of Punjab Public Service 
Commission took bribe for making the appointments. 
D FIRs were· iodged against him. He was prosecuted under 
the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 
Some of the officers of the Executive Branch and Allied 
Services of the Punjab Civil Service were also implicated. 
Thereafter, services of the direct recruits, Executive 
E Class-I and II as also of all the judicial officers, recruited 
in the same period were terminated. Aggrieved persons, 
belonging to Executive, Allied Services as well as Judicial 
Branches, filed writ petitions in the High Court. The Full 
Bench of the High Court in *Amarbir Singh & Ors. v. State 
F of Punjab & Ors. accepting the submission of the State 
Government that it was not possible to segregate the 
tainted candidates from untainted ones, confirmed the 
action of the State Government terminating the services 
of all the officers of PCS Executive Branch and Allied 
G Services Branch as well as the judicial officers, since the 
selection process was tainted and vitiated, and dismissed 
the writ petitions. Aggrieved, officers whose services 
were terminated filed appeals. This Court decided the 
same in ** lnderpreet Singh Kah/on & Ors. v. State of Punjab. 
H The Court holding that the submission of the State 
JOGINDER PAL & ORS. ETC. v. STATE OF PUNJAB 385 
Government that it was absolutely impossible for it to A 
separate the innocent candidates from the tainted ones 
cannot be accepted; and the High Court was not right in 
applying the principle of 'mass cheating cases', and 
remitted the matter to the High Court for consideration 
afresh. Thereafter, a Committee of three ~udges of the B 
High Court segregated the tainted candidates from the 
I 
non-tainted candidates selected to the executive post by 
the PSC and concluded that the entire processes of 
selections to the premier executive post was carried out 
by a well-planned scheme of deception, forgery and c 
fraud and, therefore, deserved to be set aside in their 
entirety. The H!gh Court accepted
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