The Delhi High Court Monday declined to stay the order dismissing Satish Chandra Verma, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer who had assisted the SIT in its probe into the 2004 Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case, a month before his scheduled retirement.

The bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela, however, asked the Centre to file a reply within eight weeks to Verma’s plea challenging his dismissal.

He was dismissed from service on August 30, a month ahead of his scheduled retirement on September 30.

The dismissal order followed a departmental inquiry over charges that included interacting “with public media” when he was Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO).

On September 19, the Supreme Court had stayed the dismissal order by a week, making it clear that after a week, it would be up to the Delhi High Court to decide whether or not to continue with the stay. The Supreme Court allowed Verma to make suitable changes to his petition in the High Court.

On Monday, the High Court observed that one of the allegations against the petitioner was that he had given an interview to a news channel in 2016 without any “authorisation or permission from the competent authority and spoke unauthorizedly on matters which were not within the sphere of his duty”.

The counsel for the petitioner, the bench said, did not dispute that the petitioner had given the interview to the news channel but stated that it was “given under compelling circumstances” and that “contents of the interview have not been proved in accordance with law”.

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Stating that it had perused the interview transcript, the bench said, “We are of the view that at this stage the order of termination dated 30-08-2022 does not warrant any interference as petitioner is to superannuate, in any event, on 30.09.2022. Consequently we are not inclined to stay or interdict the order of dismissal dated 30-08-2022 at this stage.”

“Let reply be filed within eight weeks. Rejoinder within four weeks thereafter. It is clarified that in case petitioner is successful in the writ petition, petitioner shall be entitled to all consequential benefits of his superannuation in accordance with rules,” the bench said, directing that the matter be listed on January 24, 2023.

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It also directed that the “original record of the enquiry shall be produced in the Court on the next date of hearing”.

© The Indian Express (P) Ltd