ORDER : The prayer in this Writ Petition is to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction commanding the 2nd and 3rd respondents to return the service book of the petitioner forthwith. 2. Heard. 3. The petitioner is the accused in Crime No. VC/04/13/IDK of VACB, Idukki, registered for offences punishable under Sections 409,420,468, 471 and 120 (B) of IPC and Section 13(1)(c) and (d) read with Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. 4. The petitioner joined in the service as a Lower Division Clerk on 9-1-2002. Thereafter, he was promoted to the post of Upper Division Clerk. Finally, the petitioner was promoted to the post of Head Clerk on 1-1-2017. The service book of the petitioner was seized by the Vigilance in connection with the investigation of the above case. However, the said service book was not returned to the head of office of the petitioner, even after making Ext. P6 request by the Head of Office of the petitioner. The Head of Office could not make entry with regard to various service aspects relating to the petitioner in the Service Book of the petitioner as the said book was seized by the police. The salary of the petitioner could not be also fixed due to the above said reason. Eventhough the petitioner filed application for earned leave surrender, the same could not be granted as the Service Book was not available. In view of the above reasons, Ext. P6 request was made by the Secretary of Azhoor Grama Panchayath to the Investigating Officer to return the Service Book of the petitioner to the Secretary, Azhoor Grama Panchayath. However, the Service Book was not returned. Therefore, the petitioner approached this Court with the above Writ Petition. 5. When this case came up for hearing on 5-4-2018, this Court directed the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to state as to whether the original service book is necessary or not for the investigation of the cases under the P.C. Act. Therefore, the petitioner approached this Court with the above Writ Petition. 5. When this case came up for hearing on 5-4-2018, this Court directed the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to state as to whether the original service book is necessary or not for the investigation of the cases under the P.C. Act. Accordingly, the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau filed report dated 7-4-2018 stating that only except in respect of investigation of a case relating to forgery in the Service Book or misappropriation of a fact noticed in the service book, the original of the Service Book is necessary as a material for the trial of the case and in all other cases, the original service book is not necessary. The Director has further reported that the Director issued direction to all the Investigating Officers, who have kept the Service Book of the accused persons in custody for investigation purpose, to return the same to the Unit Head concerned immediately on proper acknowledgment, after keeping an attested copy of the same in the case diary concerned. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that even in cases other than the cases involving P.C. Act, the Investigating Officers used to seize the original service book and produce the same before the court, eventhough the service book may not have any connection with the offences alleged. If the original service book is not necessary for the purpose of investigation or the trial of the case, there is no need to retain the original service book by the Investigating Officers or the Courts. If the investigation does not relate to forgery in the Service Book or misrepresentation of a fact noticed in the Service Book, the Investigating Officers will not be justified in retaining the Service Book of the accused, even if the offences alleged do not fall under the P.C. Act. In such cases, the Investigating Officers have to seize the service book as per a mahazar and thereafter, return the same to the Unit Head of the office of the accused, after keeping the attested copy of the relevant page/pages of the Service Book in the file, with a direction to the Unit Head to keep the Service Book under his safe custody. I make it clear that if the Service Book forms part of the offence or if the Service Book is necessary to prove the offence, the Investigating Officers and the courts will be justified in retaining the Original Service Book. 6. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the Service Book of the petitioner has been already returned to the petitioner in view of the order passed by this Court on 5-4-2018. In view of the above submission, no further direction is required in this Writ Petition. Accordingly, this Writ Petition stands closed.