CAT asks top officials to pay Rs 25,000 to Karnataka IPS office

The Bangalore bench of the Tribunal observed "grave flaws" of omissions and commissions in all the actions taken by the senior officials of the Central Government and directed them to pay the sum as the cost of the application.

"The action of the respondents (cabinet secretary, home secretary, principal secretary to the PM and Department of Personnel and Training Secretary) has been arbitrary and they have committed serious procedural irregularities," the Bench said in its order on November 15.

The observation came while hearing the matter of the appointment of an Additional Director General (ADG) for Games security. The Organising Committee had in 2008 sent a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs recommending the name of R P Sharma, a 1987 batch officer of Karnataka cadre, for the job on the basis of a report made by a Search Committee.

Based on recommendations of both the OC and Karnataka government, Sharma also attended different CWG security-related meetings in Delhi when the proposal was awaiting clearance by the MHA. However, Sharma's name was not cleared after "careful consideration" of the matter by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Aggrieved over the rejection, Sharma had filed an appeal with CAT Bangalore Bench in January last year seeking its direction to the Centre to consider his application and to issue clearance for his deputation.

Hearing the matter, the CAT had in April 2009 directed the respondent (MHA) to act as per the instruction given in a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) circular stating that Sharma is eligible to be considered by the committee under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary for screening the cases of deputation.

The court also asked the MHA to place Sharma's case before the committee and to submit their recommendations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (if the recommendations are positive) and to complete all the required procedure before May 30, 2009.

Surprisingly, after over a year of legal battle, the OC in one of its submissions recently said, "There is no further requirement of ADG Security as the Organising Committee has decided to avail the services of an officer from the Indian Police Service of the rank of Additional Director General of Police in view of the security reasons and various threats of breach."

Hearing the matter, the court agreed that applicant's (Sharma) reputation is tarnished by the illegal and unconstitutional methods adopted by the respondents. The court has directed that Sharma's case to be put up before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his approval.