The Karnataka Lokayuktha Bagalkote ... vs Chandrashekar

The Supreme Court addressed the relationship between disciplinary proceedings and criminal prosecution arising from the same allegations. It reaffirmed the established principle that these are parallel proceedings with different standards of proof: preponderance of probabilities in disciplinary cases and beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases. The Court clarified that an acquittal in criminal proceedings does not automatically benefit the accused in disciplinary proceedings, nor does exoneration in disciplinary proceedings absolve one from criminal prosecution. The judgment emphasized the independent nature of both processes and the necessity to apply the appropriate standard of proof in each.