Supreme Court (Files)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the Gujarat government’s decision to re-induct IPS officer N K Amin as Superintendent of Police after his retirement, observing he had serious charges against him and had spent eight years in jail.
Giving the state government a day’s time to take a final decision, a bench of Chief Justice of India J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said, “Either you take a call by tomorrow or we will deal with the issue. There were two serious allegations against him and in one case he has been in jail for eight years.”
The court was hearing a PIL filed by retired IPS officer Rakesh Sharma challenging the appointments of Amin and Tarun Barot (retired) as Tapi SP and DSP (Railways), respectively.
The court also referred to the case of former Gujarat DGP P P Pandey, who was given a promotion and three-month extension despite being out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan case. Pandey had offered to quit after the court’s observations.
Appearing for Gujarat, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta backed Amin’s re-induction, saying he had been in jail for eight years for different reasons but refused to elaborate.
“I don’t want to elaborate but he has been in jail for eight years for different reasons. He has contributed immensely towards safety and security of public,” Mehta said.
Mehta said Sharma’s petition was motivated by his differences with the state government.
The apex court had earlier sought the state government’s response on the petition, which alleged that Amin faced trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan fake encounter, while Barot was accused in the Sadiq Jaman and Ishrat Jahan cases.
Amin was, however, acquitted in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.
