AT THE RECEIVING END: DIGs - B.L. Meena, Vinay Kumar Singh and Govind Singh - at the State Administrative Tribunal office in Hyderabad on Wednesday. - Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh State Administrative Tribunal here on Wednesday directed three senior IPS officers not to leave the Tribunal office for the day taking serious note of the Home Department's failure to comply with its order on reinstating17 police sub-inspectors.

Following the direction, the Deputy Inspectors-General of Hyderabad, Warangal and Kurnool ranges, Govind Singh, B.L. Meena and V.K. Singh respectively confined themselves to the tribunal premises till evening.

The tribunal had further directed that the Home Secretary and four DIGs including, Mr. K. Narasimha Reddy of Eluru Range, should appear before it on December 29. These directions were given by tribunal judicial member P. Suresh Reddy.

The tribunal was dissatisfied with the explanation of the Government Pleader over non-reinstatement of the police officers.

Issue at stake

The 17 SIs in question, belonging to the 2000 batch, were removed from service in February following a High Court judgment declaring their recruitment illegal since they were overaged at the time of their selection.

The SIs had later pleaded with the Government to reinstate them on humanitarian grounds since they had already put in five years of service.

The Government issued an order in their favour on July 13, 2005.

However, the State-Level Police Recruitment Board refused to re-induct the police officers arguing that it could not go against the High Court judgment. The SIs moved the Tribunal in September seeking orders for their reinstatement. Tribunal Judicial Member Suresh Reddy directed the Home Department to reinstate the SIs by December 21.

Plea dismissed

He also dismissed a petition filed by the Home Department to vacate the reinstatement orders.

Even as the DIGs were ordered not to leave the tribunal premises, the Home Department moved High Court to set aside the tribunal order. It submitted to the High Court that the Government had kept its earlier order (issued in favour of the SIs) in abeyance.

However, he failed to produce the original order pointing out that he had only received a communication about it. This had prompted the judicial member to remark that the methods adopted by Home Department "amounted to abuse of court proceedings."

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