In a significant legal decision, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea filed by IPS officer Abdur Rahman (1997, Maharashtra) seeking voluntary retirement, affirming the earlier verdict of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) from December 2023 that denied his request.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Arif S Doctor ruled that the CAT’s decision did not warrant any interference from the court. The bench stated, “Resultantly, the writ petition fails, which is hereby dismissed.”
Abdur Rahman, a 1997 batch IPS officer, had filed the plea earlier this year, citing his nomination by the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) for the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency as the reason for seeking retirement. His plea argued against the rejection of his voluntary retirement application by authorities.
Senior advocate Arshad Shaikh and advocate Jasim A Shaikh, representing Rahman, highlighted that he had resigned from his position as Inspector General (IG) of the State Human Rights Commission in 2019 in protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) Bill. However, his subsequent applications for voluntary retirement were not accepted.
The court noted that Rahman’s applications for voluntary retirement had been declined by the Union and state home ministries on various grounds, including pending disciplinary proceedings. Despite these challenges, Rahman’s appeal against the rejection in the CAT was dismissed in December last year, prompting him to approach the Bombay High Court.
The High Court acknowledged the disciplinary issues against Rahman, including multiple charge-sheets issued against him for alleged violations of service rules and misconduct related to personal matters and public statements. The court, however, deferred the decision on penalties associated with these charges to the competent authority, stating it was not within its purview to preempt such decisions.
