NEW DELHI, May 15:
Supreme Court has come to the rescue of an honest IAS officer, who was implicated in a false bribery case and jailed for almost a month for exposing corruption in Bihar.
The 2013-batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre Dr Jitendra Gupta had exposed the practice of policemen allowing overloaded trucks on highways in exchange for bribes. The bureaucrat was arrested on July 14 last year after a truck driver approached the Vigilance Bureau claiming that the officer was demanding money for releasing a seized vehicle.
Accordingly, he was implicated in a false bribery case and even jailed for almost a month. The Bihar IAS Association passed a resolution condemning the illegal action against the bureaucrat. Later, the Government of Bihar also realized that the charges against the officer were baseless and unlawful and accordingly the same were withdrawn vide letter dated April 21, 2017.
However, IAS officer Dr Jitendra Gupta filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court mentioning that he was very much unsafe in the present cadre and demanded transfer to another cadre besides exemplary monetary compensation for damages and defamation as well as action against those who violated the law.
Senior Advocate Sachin Datta along with Advocate Narhari Singh appearing for the bureaucrat submitted that the petitioner and his family has faced severe mental agony, physical trauma, financial losses and loss of professional career besides being publicly defamed by the illegal and contemptuous act of State authorities.
“The fundamental rights of Gupta and his family have been brutally violated and he is still facing extreme hardship including threat to life”, they said, adding “the officer had written to DoPT to transfer him to another cadre as he is very much unsafe in the present cadre but his application has not been considered till date”.
After hearing counsels for the petitioner, Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice A K Goel and Justice U U Lalit reconfirmed that the officer was falsely implicated in a fabricated criminal case. “The Centre is directed to consider his plea for change of cadre as he is facing harassment from the Bihar Government”, the bench said.
Directing the Government of India to transfer IAS officer to another cadre for his fundamental rights violation, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the inaction of administrative authorities on Gupta’s representation and said that such serious issues have to be taken up by concerned administrative authorities, who otherwise have failed to redress the grievances of the petitioner. (Agencies)
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