- (1.)THIS appeal arises from a Judgment of Mr. Justice K. K. Desai dismissing a petition filed by the appellant under Article 226 of the Constitution. We have heard this appeal for some time, but we find that it would not be possible to complete the hearing and to dispose of the appeal before the commencement of the summer vacation. We have, however, heard counsel on a preliminary issue which was raised on behalf of the respondents and we are confining this judgment to the decision on that issue.
(2.)THE Petitioner-appellant was in the service of the Central Government and was working as a Weighment Clerk in the office of the Regional Director (Food), Western Region, Bombay. On the allegation that he had actively participated in a general strike of employees of the Central Government which commenced on 12th July 1960, a departmental inquiry was instituted against him and he was dismissed from service by the first respondent, the Regional Director (Food), Western Region, on 1st February 1961. Against the order of dismissal the petitioner appealed to the second respondent, the Director General (Food), Government of India, but the second respondent dismissed the appeal and confirmed the first respondent's order on 5th September 1962. Then on 10th December 1962 the petitioner filed the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution for quashing the said orders of the first and second respondents and for a direction that the order of dismissal passed by the first respondent on 1st February 1961 should not be enforced against the petitioner. It is not necessary to notice at this stage the various grounds on which the petition was based. The respondents opposed the petition on the merits and also on the ground that the order of dismissal passed by the first respondent had merged in the appellate order of the second respondent, that the second respondent resided and had his office at Delhi and not within the jurisdiction of this Court, and that no writ or direction can, therefore, be issued to quash the orders either of the first or the second respondents.
(3.)THE Petition was heard by Mr. Justice K. K. Desai. By his judgment dated 23rd September 1963 the learned Judge dismissed the petition on the merits and held that it was not necessary for him to decide and dispose of the point of jurisdiction raised by the respondents.