VIGILANCE MANUAL VOLUME III - AP Online

608 DECISION - 291
The department filed an appeal against this order before the
Supreme Court and the Supreme Court set aside the order of the
Division Bench as well as the order of the single Judge. The Supreme
Court held that after the deletion from clause (2) of Art. 311 of
Constitution by the Constitution forty-second Amendment Act, 1976,
the constitutional requirement is satisfied by holding an inquiry in
which the Government servant was informed of the charges against
him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard and referred
to rule 15(4) of the Central Civil Services (CCA) Rules, 1965 as
amended, and remitted the writ appeal for disposal on merits.
(Secretary, Central Board of Excise and Customs vs.
K.S.Mahalingam: 1986(3) SLR SC 144)
In the present writ appeal, the High Court examined the
question whether it is always necessary before a charge of failure to
maintain absolute integrity or failure to maintain devotion to duty and
doing something which is unbecoming of a Government servant is
established, passing of money or illegal gratification must be
established. The High Court observed that when the service rule
regulating the conduct of public servant expressly provides that a
Government servant should at all times maintain absolute integrity, it
is obvious that the conduct expected of the Government servant is
one which is upright and honest. In the case of assessment of duty
like the instant one, even assuming for a moment that the assessing
officer does not receive any illegal gratification, if undervaluation of
the articles in respect of which a duty is levied is deliberately and
wilfully done, it cannot be said that the said Government servant has
acted honestly or that his conduct was upright. There may be several
considerations which might induce a public servant to go out of the
way and oblige another person in the matter of assessment to duty.
Even acquaintance with the person who is to be obliged would be
enough consideration for an undervaluation. This undervaluation
would result not because of the anxiety to oblige an acquaintance. It
would be a different matter if the undervaluation of the articles to be