Delhi HC directs Bihar govt to release salary of IAS officer

New Delhi: In a major embarrassment to Bihar government led by CM Nitish Kumar, the Delhi High Court has directed the Bihar government to release all the arrears of pay and allowances to an IAS officer, who has sought inter-state transfer from Bihar to Haryana alleging threat to his life for acting tough against the transport mafia there.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jyoti Singh said the Bihar government shall continue to pay the salary to 2013-batch IAS officer Jitendra Gupta till the disposal of the writ petition, in which the state government has challenged a 2018 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The CAT had directed the Centre to consider the case of the officer for inter-state deputation to Haryana or for Central government deputation.

It had directed the Bihar government not to withhold its consent for the inter-state deputation or central deputation of the officer and communicate it to the Centre.

In its plea against the CAT order, the government has claimed the tribunal failed to understand the mala fide intention of the officer for seeking cadre transfer, which was to avoid a criminal case in which he was acquitted but the matter was pending against his team members. During one of the recent hearings on the Bihar government's plea, Gupta's counsel told the HC he was not receiving any salary since July 2017.