Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has quashed disciplinary proceeding against IPS officer Satish Kumar Gajbhiye in connection with a row over alleged non-payment of reward for the anti-Naxal operation to some policemen during his stint as Malkangiri Superintendent of Police.
The High Court on Tuesday also directed the state government to confer all promotions and benefits retrospectively to the Maharashtra-born Odisha cadre 2002 batch IPS officer within a month.
A division bench comprising Justice Sanju Panda and Justice S K Panigrahi quashed the disciplinary proceeding against Gajbhiye observing that, "A proceeding, which is not initiated in a lawful manner sans the avowed principle of natural justice, cannot be just proceeding and is void ab initio (no order is in existence and petitioner shall deem to continue in service)". In 2015, the Home department had initiated disciplinary proceeding against the police officer for alleged violation of All India Service (Conduct) Rules-1968. While serving as the Malkangiri SP, Gajbhiye had allegedly not disbursed the reward money among police personnel of the district, who had arrested Sriramulu Srinivas, a Maoist, in 2007.
The Andhra Pradesh government had announced a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on Srinivas, which was later enhanced to Rs 12 lakh.
An amount of Rs 3.55 lakh was sanctioned and remitted to Gajbhiye to be disbursed among police personnel and civilian informers, who were instrumental in the Maoist's arrest.
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After receiving complaints of non-receipt of the amount by three policemen, a disciplinary proceeding was initiated against Gajbhiye in November 2015.
Challenging the disciplinary proceeding, Gajbhiye had approached the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) here.
Subsequently, the appeal against disciplinary proceeding was transferred to Central Administrative Tribunal (CATs) principal branch at New Delhi, which was dismissed in August 2018. Gajbhiye had again challenged the ruling and filed a writ petition in the Orissa High Court.
PTI
