E-Paper
HC quashes suspension orders of Punjab IGP Umranangal
In his plea, Paramraj Singh Umranangal argued that service rules provide that an order of suspension has to be reviewed within 60 days from the date of issuance, failing which it shall stand revoked.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday quashed three suspension orders of inspector general of police (IGP) Paramraj Singh Umranangal, who is an accused in the police firing cases of 2015 in the aftermath of the sacrilege incidents.
The suspension orders were issued on February 26, 2019; November 20, 2020, and March 22, 2021.
Umranangal had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal against the orders but failed to get relief. In its order on February 1, 2023, the CAT had dismissed his plea after which he approached the high court on February 15, 2023.
“The high court has allowed his plea against the CAT orders. The detailed judgment is yet to be made available,” his counsel, Gauravjit Singh Patwalia, who appeared with senior advocate DS Patwalia, said. He said that all three suspension orders were under challenge in the petition, which was allowed by the high court on Friday.
The judgment was pronounced by the bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma.
In his plea seeking restoration of his services, Umranangal had argued that the All India Services discipline and appeal rules, 1969, provides that an order of suspension has to be reviewed by the concerned review committee within 60 days from the date of issuance, failing which it shall stand revoked.
His first suspension order was passed on February 26, 2019, after his arrest on February 18, 2019, when he was arrested in the Kotkapura firing incident case.
Two protesters were killed allegedly in the police firing at Behbal Kalan in the aftermath of sacrilege incidents in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala in 2015. In the firing incidents reported at Kotkapura, protesters suffered injuries.
Umranangal is an accused in both the firing incidents.
