§ MR. A. C. MORTONI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that Mr. N. D. Kalvade, late a magistrate and mamlutdar in the Poona District under the Bombay Government, was dismissed, after a departmental inquiry, for alleged bribery, and that the statements against him in that inquiry were those of persons who had been pronounced, both by the three learned Commissioners in the Crawford case and by the Bombay 1711 Government, unworthy of belief; and whether the Secretary of State will consider the expediency of allowing him the benefit of an investigation by the ordinary Courts, or before a jury, or of granting him some other suitable relief?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL, North Beds.)Mr. N. D. Kalvade was dismissed from the Government Service after a departmental inquiry held by the Commissioner of the Central Division as to his dealings, &c, in the Crawford case. He appealed to the Bombay Government, which, after careful examination of the case, rejected the appeal, on the ground that the inquiry had been conducted with a scrupulous regard for justice to Mr. Kalvade—that every possible opportunity was given him of testing the evidence and rebutting it—that the conclusion arrived at by the Collector of Poona and the Commissioner who held the inquiry were supported in the most important points by a substantial mass of evidence which fully sustained the decision of the Commissioner that Mr. Kalvade was disqualified by character and conduct for retention in the public service. Accordingly Mr. Kalvade's appeal was rejected. He then petitioned the Government of India, who saw no reason to interfere with the decision of the Bombay Government. In these circumstances the Secretary of State cannot consent to re-open the matter.
§ MR. A. C. MORTONIs it correct that, if an Indian official's salary is £250 a year, he cannot demand to be tried by a jury, but if it is £251 he can?
§ MR. GEORGE RUSSELLI believe Mr. Kalvade has a right to bring an action if he wishes.