A bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma set aside three suspension orders (passed in 2019, 2020, and 2021) against the police officer after finding that there was a violation of the procedure to be followed in such cases.
The Court added that the State cannot pick and choose rules or pass orders without following the procedure mentioned in the rules.
“It is very unfortunate to observe that on the one hand the petitioner is awarded with two Gallantry Awards for rendering his meritorious service in combating with terrorism in the State of Punjab, but on the other hand the State Government has placed the petitioner under Suspension since 18.02.2019 till date i.e. for a period of almost five years without following any procedure, without any extension, without any recommendation of Central Review Committee, without any confirmation by the Central Government, which doubts the intention of the officers who are passing the suspension orders one after the other,” the Court found.
Source: Barandbench
