The Supreme Court has set aside the order of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh High Court for transferring Sanjay Kundu IPS from the post of DGP of the State.
The transfer of the IPS officer was done on the allegation that he was interfering with the fair investigation of a case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra expressed reservations about the manner in which the High Court passed the initial order ex-parte and then refused to recall the first order when the petitioner approached it.
Setting aside the initial order of transfer and the subsequent refusal of the High Court to recall the first order, the Supreme Court said that the proper course of action was to hear the matter afresh, by recalling the first ex-parte order, instead of affording a “post-decisional” hearing.
Supreme Court has been approached by the Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer Sanjay Kundu against the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s refusal to recall its order for removing him from the post of Director General of Police (DGP) in the State.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court this Wednesday refused to recall its order for removal of India Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjay Kundu from the post of Director General of Police (DGP) of Himachal Pradesh.
The High Court for Kundu’s removal had been stayed by the Supreme Court till the decision on his recall application. The application was heard by the High Court for almost the whole day on January 5.
In the order passed on application by Kundu, the division bench comprising of Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua , saying no case has been made out by him for recall of the order dated December 26.
“The Court said that Should this Court, under the pretext of protecting the reputation of the officers concerned, forget its constitutional responsibility of ensuring fair investigation in the matter?,” asked the Court.
The State Advocate General Anup Rattan had opposed Kundu’s application for recall of the order to remove him from the DGP post.
The High Court on October 26, had ordered the State government to move the DGP and Superintendent of Police (SP), Kangra, to other posts to ensure fair investigation into a businessman’s allegations of alleged threats to him.
The threats were allegedly coming from a retired IPS officer and a senior lawyer. The Court was told that the complainant was getting constant phone calls from the DGP’s office in connection with the dispute.
On the basis of the reports submitted by Superintendent of Police of Shimla, the High Court in its December 26 order recorded that the DGP had been in touch with the business partner of the complainant and had repeatedly tried to contact the latter.