Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Apr 9: The State High Court today kept in abeyance the demotion order of former Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) issued by Ministry of Home Affairs last week.
Justice Muhammad Yaqoob Mir of the High Court today admitted the writ petition filed by the former Inspector General of CRPF, S S Sandhu challenging the demotion order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Court while hearing the SWP 529/13 titled Shamsher Singh Sandhu versus Union of India, kept the order of Ministry of Home Affairs dated 03-04-2013 in abeyance till next date of hearing immediately after two weeks and it has given the Assistant Solicitor General, S A Makroo two weeks to file the objections.
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.
Sandhu was promoted on September 11, 2012 as IG CRPF. 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.
Senior IPS officer Nalin Prabhat has been appointed as CRPF Inspector General (IG) in Jammu and Kashmir. The appointment of Prabhat, a 1992-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, was made after incumbent S S Sandhu was recently demoted and transferred to the forces’ headquarters as DIG following alleged discrepancies in his fitness and medical records.
Earlier yesterday Assistant Solicitor General S A Makroo, representing the Union Government argued before the court that the petition of Sandhu challenging MHA order of demotion was not maintainable. However, court today admitted the writ petition and put the MHA order of his demotion in abeyance. It was a big relief of S S Sandhu.
The court has listed the case along with the SWP-2729/12 where the CRPF officer has sought stay of his transfer from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi and the court has stayed his transfer.
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