Nainital, Oct 28 The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the competent authority to consider releasing the pending salaries of senior IPS officers Arun Mohan Joshi and Neeru Garg, locked in a dispute over their Central deputation.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Subhash Upadhyay heard the matter concerning the two officers who held the rank of IGP in Uttarakhand.
The Uttarakhand government had forwarded the names of both officers for Central deputation on February 16. On March 5, the Ministry of Home Affairs appointed Garg, a 2005-batch IPS officer, to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and Joshi, a 2006-batch IPS officer, to the Border Security Force (BSF), as DIGs. The state government relieved them on March 6.
The officers challenged the orders before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in New Delhi, contending that their names had been forwarded for deputation despite a five-year debarment and without obtaining their willingness.
They also questioned their appointment as DIGs despite holding the rank of IG in the Uttarakhand Police.
On September 10, the Tribunal ruled in favour of the officers, holding that their nominations during the subsistence of the debarment period were legally defective.
It also observed that the subsequent relaxation granted by the Central government could not retrospectively cure the illegality in the original nomination.
The Tribunal also took note of the absence of fresh willingness and the unexplained change in the state government’s earlier position.
Consequently, it quashed the nomination, deputation and relieving orders and directed the restoration of both officers to their respective positions in the Uttarakhand cadre, along with admissible consequential service benefits.
The state government approached the high court challenging the Tribunal’s order.
During the hearing, an objection was raised on behalf of the officers regarding the territorial jurisdiction of the Uttarakhand High Court. It was argued that since the judgment under challenge had been passed by the principal bench of the CAT in New Delhi, the Delhi High Court was the appropriate forum for challenging it.
The issue of non-payment of salaries following the disputed deputation orders was also brought before the court, which directed the competent authority to consider releasing the dues.
The bench has fixed November 18 as the next date of hearing.
