Court No. - 29
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 15345 of 2018 Petitioner :- Devendra Kumar Gangwar And 8 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 5 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Bharat Singh Pal,Saurabh Yadav Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Govind Mathur,J. Hon'ble Jayant Banerji,J.
This writ petition is preferred to challenge the order dated 15.02.2018 and its consequential order dated 19.03.2018. Under the order dated 15.02.2018, Joint Secretary, Government of U.P. has instructed Director-cum-Chief Engineer, Rural Engineering Department to lodge an F.I.R. against Sri P.K. Gupta, Former Executive Engineer, Rural Engineering Department, Pilibhit for causing a loss of Rs. 1,38,21,000/- to the State while undertaking certain government projects. In the consequential order dated 19.03.2018, the Director-cum-Chief Engineer has given direction to lodge F.I.R. against Sri P.K. Gupta and other Officers including the petitioners.
The submission of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that a disciplinary action has already been taken against the petitioners by the respondents and, as such, there is no need now to proceed against them to lodge a criminal case at this belated stage. It is further stated that His Excellency the Governor of Uttar Pradesh has already dropped the disciplinary action against the then Executive Engineer, Sri P.K. Gupta and, as such, the direction given to lodge the F.I.R. is absolutely unwarranted.
We do not find any merit with the arguments advanced. Under the orders impugned, a direction is given to get the entire matter investigated by lodging the F.I.R. before a police station having territorial jurisdiction.
True it is, the incident in question occurred few years earlier but merely on that count, it cannot be said that no investigation in the matter is required. The loss caused to the State is of huge amount and that certainly requires necessary inquiry. It is pertinent to notice that investigation in the matter of instant nature can very well be made by going through documents. Offence, if any, committed may also be established with the aid of documentary evidence. In such cases, the delay in filing F.I.R. is not of much consequence. Beside that, if the Investigating Agency after making necessary investigation, arrives at a conclusion that no adequate material is available to establish guilty of the petitioners and other related persons then a negative final report can very well be filed before the competent Court. The petitioners too can avail appropriate remedy for quashing the charge-sheet if the Investigating Agency files the same without having adequate evidence.
In entirety, at this stage, we do not find any just reason to interfere in the matter. The writ petition is dismissed accordingly.
Order Date :- 27.4.2018 MT**/Shubham .
(Jayant Banerji,J.) (Govind Mathur,J.)