The Supreme Court upheld the appointment of special officer in-charge of the Idol Wing-CID and retired Inspector General (IG) of Police A.G. Ponn Manickavel on Friday.
Mr. Manickavel was entrusted with probing idol theft cases by the Madras High Court, as head of the Idol Wing-CID, Chennai, upon his superannuation on November 30, 2018. Aggrieved over this order of the Madras High Court, the Tamil Nadu government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
‘Excellent grading’
The apex court directed him to not just continue investigating, filing chargesheets and prosecuting in the pending cases but also to do so in cases arising in the future during his tenure.
Holding that his appointment as a special officer after retirement was sustainable in law, Supreme Court Judge Ashok Bhusan said Mr. Manickavel was assessed by 28 officers and he had been given excellent grading by 27 of them. Only one officer had made adverse remarks that were then set aside by the Central Administrative Tribunal. The High Court had appointed him only after perusing those records. “We are not persuaded to accept the submission of the appellant [Tamil Nadu government] that Mr. Manickavel was not a fit person to be allowed to head the Idol Wing,” the judge said. The court, however, observed that the special officer should take appropriate steps along with his team and submit a report to Additional Director General of Police Abhay Kumar Singh about the result of the investigations, so that appropriate further action could be taken.
With caution
Whenever the Court finds it necessary to take the assistance of services of retired officers or personnel, it should be with necessary caution, the apex court ruled. This should be resorted to only when there are very valid and unavoidable circumstances, the apex court added.