Delhi HC rejects former Gujarat IPS officer’s plea against dismissal

Gujarat IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma assisted Gujarat special investigation team (SIT) in the high-profile Ishrat Jahan case of 2004 between April 2010 and October 2011

The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by former Gujarat IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma against the Union government’s decision to terminate him a month before his retirement.

Gujarat IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma (Twitter Photo)

The 1986-batch officer was dismissed on August 30 last year by the Centre, a month before his retirement, after the departmental inquiry found him guilty of speaking to the media “which had dented the country’s international relations”. Verma had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its probe into the Ishrat Jahan ‘fake encounter case’.

A bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Sanjeev Sachdeva rejected the petition by Verma saying, “In view of the above, we find no merit in writ petition... The same is accordingly dismissed”.

Verma had approached the high court following the Supreme Court’s order allowing him to file a plea.

On September 19, 2022, the Supreme Court stayed the Centre’s dismissal order for a week and said it is for the high court to consider. Subsequently, after a week on September 26 of the same year, the high court refused to stay the Centre’s order dismissing Verma and cleared the way for the sacking of the 1987-IPS cadre.

Verma moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi high court order. His petition read, “The impugned order has allowed the Union of India to pass an order that may result in the petitioner’s dismissal from service with retrospective effect (even though he superannuated on September 30, 2022), which is not permissible as per statutory rules governing the members of the All India Services.”

Verma assisted Gujarat special investigation team (SIT) in the high-profile Ishrat Jahan case of 2004 between April 2010 and October 2011.

Ishrat, a resident of Mumbra near Mumbai, and three others, who were allegedly dubbed as terrorists and accused of plotting to kill the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, were killed in an alleged staged encounter on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) issued a charge memo to Verma in September 2018 alleging that although he was relieved from the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of NEEPCO (North Eastern Electric Power Corporation) in July 2016, he failed to hand over the files and kept them in personal custody for a long time. Other charges against him also included talking to the media.

As Ishrat case probe officer, Verma filed an affidavit in the Gujarat high court in 2011 that the 19-year-old Ishrat was killed in a “fake encounter in June 2004 along with three men believed to be linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba”.