New Delhi, July 8(Inditop.com) The Supreme Court Wednesday absolved the former Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission chairman Ashok Darbari of charges of corruption and nepotism levelled by the state government.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan acquitted the state’s constitutional functionary of the charges, saying “no evidence of misconduct was found” against Darbari.
The bench, which also included Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal, gave its ruling on a reference sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan under section 317 of the constitution, which entitles the state government to seek apex court legal opinion on a ticklish legal question.
Darbari was suspended from the post of the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission chairman in 2006 after charges of irregularity, bungling and corruption in various state examinations cropped up against him and other members of the state Public Service Commission.
But the state PSC chairnman being a constitutional authority enjoying constitutional immunity from removal, the Chhattisgarh government had sent its complaint to Rashtrapati Bhavan, which then forwarded it to the apex court for its judicial scrutiny.
The presidential reference to the apex court was made to seek its advice on whether to remove or sack Darbari after ascertaining the authenticity of the charges against him.
The apex court ruled in favour of Darbari after scrutinising the state government’s voluminous evidence against him for over a year.
The court gave its ruling on the presidential reference under its advisory jurisdiction, which is not binding upon the government.
While seeking judicial scrutiny of the state’s complaint against Darbari, state Advocate General Jugal Kishore Gilda told the apex court last year the charges against the constitutional functionary were “too serious”.
Gilda also told the court that the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau had in 2006 registered a string of cases against Darbari under various sections of Indian Penal Code and the Anti-Corruption Act after collecting evidence against him in bungling the results of the state’s 2003 and 2005 Public Service Commission examinations.
