Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Jan 29: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today upheld the demotion order of former Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) issued by Ministry of Home Affairs last year.
A single Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magray today dismissed the writ petition of former Inspector of CRPF, S S Sandhu, who had challenged the demotion order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs last year.
Sandhu was promoted as IG CRPF by Home Ministry on September 10, 2012 but the order was later withdrawn on April 3, 2013 and he was demoted.
The Court while dismissing the petition said: “…the promotion order of the petitioner was revoked in consequence of determination of his medical category as SHAPE-2E. The petitioner has not challenged determination of his medical category. Since SHAPE-I medical category is mandatory for the promotion in CRPF and the petitioner does not possess the same and his promotion order has rightly been revoked as being wrong.”
The judgement reads: “The question that falls for consideration, therefore is, whether, this Court in exercise of its discretion would quash the impugned orders. The natural consequence of such a course would be restoring illegal order, make the petitioner, an officer of the CRPF with medical category SHAPE-2E as eligible and entitled to promotion.”
“This would be totally against the rules governing the field and would rather unsettle the relevant rules not only in the CRPF but all the central forces who are governed by same rules”, the Court order reads.
The court while dismissing the petition said: “I don’t find any merit in this petition as would warrant the exercise of discretion by this Court.”
The Home Ministry reply through its counsel, Shoukat Ahmad Makroo, stated that in order to hoodwink the system, the petitioner sough interview with the Home Secretary and made a false statement that his medical condition was changed from SHAPE-I to SHAPE-II by medical officer of the CRPF.
The Court took strong notice of the CRPF officer misleading the Court and Home Secretary by his false statements and concealing the facts that he was examined by two more medical boards beside CRPF medical board.
Sandhu’s demotion was a rare punishment of a senior CRPF officer in the 74-year-old history of the three-lakh strong CRPF. He was demoted after discrepancies were allegedly found in his physical fitness records. After his demotion, he was shifted and posted as Deputy Inspector General at the CRPF Headquarters in New Delhi.
The officer came under the scanner after he had challenged the medical board’s recommendation of declaring him unfit for promotion and suo motu submitted a report from another panel of doctors, which as per reports was not authorised as per the CRPF rules.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel