Centre moves HC to promote cop demoted by Modi govt
1 Nov 2012 6:40 AM IST
In a move that could raise many eye brows, the Centre on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court for the promotion of controversial IPS officer Kuldip Sharma whose ACRs were allegedly downgraded by Gujarat’s Narendra Modi government, to the rank of director general of police. Such a move just ahead of the Gujarat polls is bound to create controversy.
‘Let he (Sharma) be promoted as the DGP and this decision would be subject to the outcome of this petition (of Gujarat government) as we (Centre) are short of good officers at the level of DGPs,’ the counsel for Centre told a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul.
The court, however, did not accord urgent hearing to the Centre’s application for Sharma’s promotion and slated it for hearing on 8 November. ‘Nothing is going to happen in the meantime and we will hear it on 8 November,’ said Justice Ahmed.
The Centre’s plea was filed in a pending appeal of the Gujarat government against the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) order, which had raised Sharma’s grading in the ACR paving the way for his promotion. The CAT earlier had set aside a departmental enquiry against the 1976-batch IPS officer, holding that he was the victim of ‘arbitrary’ treatment at the hands of the state government.
The IPS officer had accused the state government of resorting to a witch-hunt because, he said, he performed his duties lawfully and against the ‘whims and diktats’ of Modi during the 2002 riots and other cases including Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
‘Let he (Sharma) be promoted as the DGP and this decision would be subject to the outcome of this petition (of Gujarat government) as we (Centre) are short of good officers at the level of DGPs,’ the counsel for Centre told a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul.
The court, however, did not accord urgent hearing to the Centre’s application for Sharma’s promotion and slated it for hearing on 8 November. ‘Nothing is going to happen in the meantime and we will hear it on 8 November,’ said Justice Ahmed.
The Centre’s plea was filed in a pending appeal of the Gujarat government against the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) order, which had raised Sharma’s grading in the ACR paving the way for his promotion. The CAT earlier had set aside a departmental enquiry against the 1976-batch IPS officer, holding that he was the victim of ‘arbitrary’ treatment at the hands of the state government.
The IPS officer had accused the state government of resorting to a witch-hunt because, he said, he performed his duties lawfully and against the ‘whims and diktats’ of Modi during the 2002 riots and other cases including Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
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