Lucknow, Oct 2 The Allahabad High Court has stayed
the operation of a charge sheet issued against four state tax department officials who had probed a sexual harassment complaint, and sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response within two weeks.
Justice Rajiv Singh of the Lucknow bench passed the order while hearing separate writ petitions filed by Deputy Commissioner Pratibha, assistant commissioners Pooja Gautam and Komal Chhabra, and Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar.
These officials had challenged the charge sheet issued against them on February 23.
Appearing for the petitioners, advocates Alok Mishra and Priyanshu Shukla submitted that the officials had recorded relevant facts and statements of witnesses while conducting the inquiry into the sexual harassment complaint.
However, the charge sheet questioned the procedure adopted during the inquiry, the counsel said.
The allegations included questions over why certain relevant facts allegedly known to the officials were not considered while holding the accused responsible and why statements of persons present around the time of the alleged incident were recorded, the petitioners' counsel submitted.
The officials contended that the charges were vague and argued that initiating departmental proceedings against officers over the procedure adopted while conducting sexual harassment inquiries could discourage officials from undertaking such inquiries in future.
Additional Advocate General S M Singh Roykwar opposed the petitions, submitting that a special appeal concerning the dispute was already pending before a division bench. He said it had been indicated during those proceedings that the departmental inquiry could continue.
The AAG also pointed out that the petitioners had not yet submitted their replies to the charge sheet.
After hearing the parties, the court observed that, prima facie, various aspects of the allegations contained in the charge sheet required consideration.
The court directed the state government to file its counter-affidavit within two weeks, following which the petitioners would have one week to file their rejoinder.
The court stayed the operation of the disputed charge sheet dated February 23 until the next date of hearing.
