Justice R Suresh Kumar observed that the petitioner’s counsel relied on the Police Standing Order (PSO) 67 which says that if an employee is acquitted by a criminal court, the police department ordinarily should not go for disciplinary proceedings for the same charges and should reinstate the employee.
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HC okays dept proceedings against cop cleared by court
Kaushik Kannan | TNN | Sep 7, 2020, 04:56 IST
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Madurai: Madras high court has directed the authorities to conclude the departmental proceedings against a police official suspended 16 years ago on corruption charges within three months. Though the official was acquitted by a criminal court, the high court observed that the decree of proof between the criminal case and departmental proceedings is different.
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Petitioner R Suresh Kumar, a sub-inspector of police in the prohibition and enforcement wing in Trichy, was placed under suspension in 2004 as a criminal case was registered against him by DVAC officials under Prevention of Corruption Act. After nearly 13 years, in 2017, he was acquitted by the trial court. Subsequently, he submitted a representation in 2018 seeking reinstatement. However, the authorities decided to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him on charges identical to the ones framed in the criminal case and issued a charge memo in 2019. The petitioner challenged this and moved the HC Madurai bench seeking to revoke his suspension order too.
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Justice R Suresh Kumar observed that the petitioner’s counsel relied on the Police Standing Order (PSO) 67 which says that if an employee is acquitted by a criminal court, the department ordinarily should not go for disciplinary proceedings for the same charges and should reinstate the employee.
However, the judge observed that the word ‘ordinarily’ in the PSO means that it is not necessary that in every case the department shall accept the criminal court’s verdict and drop disciplinary proceedings.
The department may succeed in some cases by proving the guilt against the erring official by conducting a full-fledged inquiry. Holding that the suspension order and charge memo cannot be interfered with at this juncture, the judge said that the authorities can proceed with the disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner by awarding reasonable opportunity to him and complete the exercise within three months.
However, if the proceedings are not completed within this time, he shall not be kept under suspension.
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