CO129-577-9 Badan Singh- petitions that he should be considered for promotion 2-11-1939 - 9-1-1940 — Page 5

involve criminality and certainly involve official

misconduct, is not easy. Sir Alison Russell deals

fully with the point in paragraph 6 of his printed

notes on disciplinary proceedings of which a copy is

attached. If my memory serves, that paragraph was

re-written in its present form in 1936 - i.e. after

the incidents now being considered and it represents

current practice and views. Even Sir Alison found

The very

it impossible to lay down any rigid rule.

wording of the paragraph reflects the difficulty of

the choice between the two procedures and I do not

think that any criticism need be offered on the

decision taken here. The reason given for it (namely, that prosecution was unlikely to succeed)

may not have been entirely sound but the offence was,

The initiation of to my mind, so much a Service matter that proceedings

2

was

under old Colonial Regulation 46 were justified.

Another point raised by the petitioner is the allegation (see paragraph 18) that his being passed over for promotion is in effect another

punishment for the offence for which he was

reprimanded six years ago. Such double punishment

as a deduction from pension for an offence for which

increments were withheld or salary was reduced at the

time of the offence are always deprecated but clearly

a Colonial Government when considering promotion (particularly promotion to the highest grade open to an officer) can fairly take into account the whole of

his record. I agree, therefore, that on this point

also there is no cause for intervention.

The reply might be as Mr. Gent proposes

but asking that, if the Governor agrees, the

petitioner