The Delhi High Court has recently upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) decision to reinstate IPS Gurjinder Pal Singh back into the service. Officer G P Singh who had headed a probe against former CM of Chhattisgarh, Mr. Raman Singh. Officer Singh worked diligently as the head of a Special Investigation Team, set up to verify the allegations against former CM Raman Singh in an alleged multi-crore public distribution system scam. Mr. G P Singh, a 1994-batch IPS officer, had served as the IGP Raipur, Durg, and Bilaspur.
The CAT order further directed that Officer Singh should be reinstated and had recorded that the First Information Reports against him were registered at the “behest of higher authorities of the (then Chhattisgarh) state government” as he did not toe its line but the Centre had challenged the CAT’s April verdict.
In his submissions made in the Supreme Court, Officer Singh alleged that the Chhattisgarh government machinery was being used to harass him and tarnish his reputation as he had declined “illegal favours” to various high-ranked officials of the state, and falsely implicate members of the erstwhile government in the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) “scam.”
The Delhi High Court, upon observing the three FIRs and the CAT’s observations, labelled the Centre’s orders for Officer Singh’s compulsory retirement “as a shortcut method without even waiting for the conclusion of departmental proceedings.”
The Centre however had argued that the order of compulsory retirement was duly passed in the public interest in terms of the service rules and that the CAT usurped its jurisdiction while evaluating the evidence in respect of the criminal complaints, the downgrading of the annual performance appraisal report (APAR) as well as the various disciplinary proceedings against the officer. It is pertinent to mention that all three FIRs had been stayed by the Chattisgarh High Court.
