Police official’s plea challenging demotion premature: CAT
A division bench of the CAT has stated it is clear that an appeal of the applicant is pending before the appellate authority and, till the appeal is pending, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain this application.
The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has disposed of an application filed by a UT cop, challenging his demotion from the rank of inspector to sub-inspector, terming the petition as ‘premature’. A division bench of the CAT has stated it is clear that an appeal of the applicant is pending before the appellate authority and, till the appeal is pending, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain this application.
“We are of the considered view that at this stage the OA (original application) is premature. This is disposed of with directions to the respondents to decide the pending appeal filed by the applicant before the appellate authority within eight weeks from today,” said the CAT order.
Harinder Singh Sekhon, who was demoted in December last year following a departmental inquiry into allegations of his involvement in an alleged graft case, had challenged the UT SSP’s decision before the CAT’s Chandigarh bench.
Arvind Moudgil, senior standing counsel of the Chandigarh Administration, argued before the bench that Sekhon had attended the inquiry proceedings in furtherance of the charge memo and only thereafter the punishment order has been passed by the disciplinary authority. “The applicant has not exhausted the remedies available to him in view of the constitutional bench judgment. This court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the OA since the appeal is pending and there is also the remedy of revision. Therefore, the OA was premature. The court considered this argument,” he said.
In his application before the Tribunal, Sekhon had stated that he had joined the department as probationer ASI in 1997, got promoted as sub-inspector in 2005 and thereafter vide order dated June 5, 2015, issued by deputy inspector general of police he got promoted to the rank of police inspector.
Sekhon’s counsel said the applicant had brought two gold medals in world games and has won the title of Mr Olympia three times and brought laurels to the Chandigarh Police.
He said from the stage of decision to proceed departmentally against the applicant till passing of order of reduction in rank, the decisions have been taken by a lower authority than the appointing authority as provided for in the Punjab Police Rules. He cited various orders of apex court and high courts in this regard.
