SC stays dismissal of IPS officer tied to Ishrat Jahan probe for seven days

NEW DELHI: Gujarat cadre IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma who had assisted CBI in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter probe on Monday breathed a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court stayed for a further week the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order dismissing him from service.

A bench of Justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy also granted Verma the liberty to challenge the dismissal order in his proceedings pending before the Delhi HC.

"In facts of this case, the interest of justice would require that the order passed by the MHA dismissing the appellant which the HC permitted to be implemented shall not be implemented till today should continue to be not implemented for a period of 1 week from today. Order of dismissal shall not be implemented to permit the appellant to take steps for amending the writ to launch a challenge against the order of dismissal. It is for the HC to consider the question as to whether the order of stay of implementation of order passed by the disciplinary authority is to be continued beyond a period of one week," bench said in its order.

Verma who was dismissed on August 30, a month before his retirement on September 30 had challenged the Delhi HC's order that had permitted the ministry to sack him. While the HC granted MHA the permission, it put the dismissal order on hold till September 19 to enable him to avail remedies as per law against the order of dismissal.

For Verma, senior advocate Kapil Sibal contended that there wasn't any hurry to pass an order of dismissing the IPS officer since the proceedings instituted against him could have been carried to its logical conclusion even after his retirement. It was also Sibal’s contention that the Centre was stalling the proceedings before the Delhi HC by not filing any counter affidavit in the matter.  "I may not succeed. But if I do, it will go. I have 35 years of service," Sibal said.

Apprising the bench that Verma's proceedings before the HC were only limited to assailing the charges against him, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Centre contended that Verma had not challenged the order of dismissal before the HC.