VIGILANCE MANUAL VOLUME III - AP Online

280 DECISION - 62
not being a penalty was not invalid on the ground that the matter was
not submitted to the Governor.
Any defect of form in the order by the Government would not
necessarily make it illegal and the only consequence of the order not
being in proper form as required by Art. 166 of Constitution is that
the burden is thrown on the Government to show that the order was
in fact passed by them. Where an order of compulsory retirement
under rule 244(2) was passed by the Government but was
communicated to him by the Inspector General of Police, the form of
the order was defective and therefore the burden was thrown on the
Government to show that the order was in fact passed by them. In
the instant case, the order of retirement, having been passed by the
proper authority, cannot be said to be invalid in law.
(62)
(A) Court jurisdiction
(i) High Court is not constituted in a proceeding
under Art. 226 of Constitution as a Court of Appeal
over the decision of the departmental authorities.
(ii) The sole judges of facts are the departmental
authorities and if there be some legal evidence on
which their findings can be based, the adequacy or
reliability of that evidence is not a matter which can
be canvassed before the High Court.
(B) Charge — to be read with statement of imputations
Charges and the statement of facts accompanying
the charge form part of a single document and
inquiry is not vitiated if what is contained in the
statement is not contained in the charge.
(C) Evidence — standard of proof
The rule followed in a criminal trial that an offence
is not established unless proved beyond reasonable
doubt does not apply to departmental inquiries.
State of Andhra Pradesh vs. S. Sree Ramarao,
AIR 1963 SC 1723
The respondent was appointed as Sub-Inspector of Police