#THE DEPARTMENTAL INQUIRIES (ENFORCEMENT OF ATTENDANCE OF WITNESSES AND PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS) ACT, 1972 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Short title and extent. 
2. Departmental inquiries to which the Act shall apply. 
3. Definitions. 
4. Power of Central Government to authorise the exercise of powers specified in section 5. 
5. Power of authorised inquiring authority to enforce attendance of witnesses and production of 
  documents. 
6. Territorial limits in which powers specified in section 5 may be exercised. 
7. Power to make rules. 



#THE DEPARTMENTAL INQUIRIES (ENFORCEMENT OF ATTENDANCE OF WITNESSES AND PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS) ACT, 1972 

##ACT NO. 18 OF 1972 

[31st May, 1972.] 

An Act to provide for the enforcement of attendance of witnesses and production of documents 
  in certain departmental inquiries and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. 

  BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-third Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1. **Short title and extent.**—(1) This Act may be called the Departmental Inquiries (Enforcement of 
Attendance of Witnesses and Production of Documents) Act, 1972. 

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir[^1]. 

2. **Departmental inquiries to which the Act shall apply.**—The provisions of this Act shall apply to 
every departmental inquiry made in relation to— 

  (a) persons appointed to public services or posts in connection with the affairs of the Union; 

  (b) persons  who,  having  been  appointed  to  any  public  service  or  post  in  connection  with  the 
affairs of the Union, are in service or pay of,— 

     (i) any local authority in any Union territory, 

     (ii) any  corporation  established  by  or  under  a  Central  Act  and  owned  or  controlled  by  the 
Central Government, 

     (iii)  any  Government  company  within  the  meaning  of  section  617  of  the  Companies 
Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), in which not less than fifty-one per cent. of the paid-up share capital is 
held  by  the  Central  Government  or  any  company  which  is  a  subsidiary  of  such  Government 
company, 

     (iv) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), which is 
subject to the control of the Central Government. 

3. **Definitions.**—For the purposes of this Act,— 

  (a) “departmental inquiry” means an inquiry held under and in accordance with— 

     (i) any law made by Parliament or any rule made thereunder, or 

     (ii) any  rule  made  under  the  proviso  to  article  309,  or  continued  under  article  313,  of  the 
Constitution of India, 

into any allegation of lack of integrity against any person to whom this Act applies; 

  (b) “inquiring authority” means an officer or authority appointed by the Central Government or 
by  any  officer  or  authority  subordinate  to  that  Government  to  hold  a  departmental  inquiry  and 
includes any officer or authority who is empowered by or under any law or rule for the time being in 
force to hold such inquiry; 

  (c) “lack of integrity” includes bribery or corruption. 

4. **Power  of  Central  Government  to  authorise  the  exercise  of  powers  specified 
section 5.**—(1) Where the  Central  Government  is  of  opinion that for the  purposes  of  any  departmental 
inquiry it is necessary to summon as witnesses, or call for any document from, any class or category of 
persons, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise the inquiring authority to exercise the 
power  specified  in  section  5  in  relation  to  any  person  within  such  class  or  category  and  thereupon  the 
inquiring authority may exercise such power at any stage of the departmental inquiry. 



[^1]. Vide notification No. S.O. 3912(E), dated 30th October, 2019, this Act is made applicable to the Union territory of Jammu and 
Kashmir and the Union territory of Ladakh. 



(2) The power conferred on the Central Government by sub-section (1) may also be exercised by such 
authority,  not  being  an  authority  inferior  to  the  appointing  authority  in  relation  to  the  person  against 
whom  the  departmental  inquiry  is  being  held,  as  the  Central  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the 
Official Gazette, specify in this behalf. 

5. **Power of authorised inquiring authority to enforce attendance of witnesses and production of 
documents.**—(1) Every inquiring authority authorised under section 4 (hereafter  referred  to  as  the 
“authorised inquiring authority”) shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code 
of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:— 

  (a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath; 

  (b) requiring the discovery and production of any document or other material which is producible 
as evidence; 

  (c) the requisitioning of any public record from any court or office. 

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the authorised inquiring authority shall not 
compel the Reserve Bank of India, the State Bank of India, any subsidiary bank as defined in clause (k) of 
section 2 of the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959), or any corresponding new 
bank constituted under section 3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) 
Act, 1970 (5 of 1970),— 

  (a) to  produce  any  books  of  account  or  other  documents  which the  Reserve  Bank  of  India,  the 
State Bank of India, the subsidiary bank or the corresponding new bank claims to be of a confidential 
nature, or 

  (b) to  make  any  such  books  or  documents  a  part  of  the  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
departmental inquiry, or 

  (c) to give inspection of any such books or documents, if produced, to any party before it or to 
any other person. 

(3) Every process issued by an authorised inquiring authority for the attendance of any witness or for 
the production of any document shall be served and executed through the District Judge within the local 
limits of whose jurisdiction the witness or other person, on whom the process is to be served or executed, 
voluntarily resides or carries on business or personally works for gain, and, for the purpose of taking any 
action  for  the  disobedience  of  any  such  process,  every  such  process  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  process 
issued by the District Judge. 

(4) Every  authorised  inquiring  authority  making  any  departmental  inquiry  under  this  Act  shall  be 
deemed  to  be  a  civil  court  for  the  purposes  of  sections  480  and  482  of  the  Code  of  Criminal 
Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898). 

6. **Territorial limits in which powers specified in section 5 may be exercised.**—For the purpose of 
exercising  the  powers  specified  in  section  5,  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  every  authorised  inquiring 
authority shall extend to the limits of the territory to which this Act extends. 

7. **Power to make rules.**—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, 
make rules for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act. 

(2) Every rule made by the Central Government under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be 
after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days 
which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of 
the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in 
making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall 
thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that 
the  modification  or  annulment  shall  be  without  prejudice  to  the  validity  of  anything  previously  done 
under that rule.