RAIPUR:
Central Administrative Tribunal
(CAT) has quashed IPS officer
Gurjinder Pal Singh
’s
compulsory retirement
from service and ordered his
reinstatement
with all associated benefits within four weeks. The 1991-batch officer held the rank of
ADG
in Chhattisgarh when he was compulsorily retired from service after being raided by
anti-corruption bureau
(ACB) and a sedition case was registered against him during the tenure of Bhupesh Baghel govt in state.
CAT principal bench in New Delhi, comprising chairman, Justice Ranjit More, and member Anand Mathur, observed: “The applicant has been retired compulsorily as a punitive measure. The order of compulsory retirement has been passed as a shortcut to avoid departmental inquiry. The impugned order retiring the applicant compulsorily cannot be sustained in the eyes of the law.”
In his submission before CAT, the
IPS officer
maintained that while working as ADGP-ACB/EOW, he was in-charge of high-profile and sensitive probes in state, including Nagrik Apoorti Nigam scam. During probe, he was repeatedly subjected to “political pressure from the higher echelons of state govt” to conduct probe as per their instructions, but he did not give in, he told the tribunal. This is why he was “unceremoniously” transferred to police HQ with no assignment and then made director of the state police academy, he said.
“Govt, maliciously and after a lapse of over four years, constituted inquiry committee into suicide of Bilaspur SP Rahul Sharma,” he said, adding that he moved Jabalpur bench of the tribunal, which stayed panel proceedings.
