The Hindu : New Delhi News : Court directs Centre to reinstate officer

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Court directs Centre to reinstate officer

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Pulling up several senior officials of the External Affairs Ministry for arbitrarily discharging an Indian Foreign Service probationer from service, the Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to reinstate him in the cadre of his batch within a month of the judgment.

The Court held that the official, Mahaveer C. Singhvi, was discharged from service not for any misconduct or lack of devotion to duty or harassing a former female acquaintance as alleged and concluded by his superiors but for some other hidden reasons.

“In the case at hand, a one-sided enquiry certainly was conducted at different levels; opinions were expressed and definite conclusions regarding the officer’s culpability were reached by key officials who, in their own words, had thoroughly convinced themselves in this regard,” a Division Bench of the Court said.

The decision by the Bench comprising Justices Manmohan Sarin and S.K. Misra came on a petition by Mr. Singhvi against the dismissal of his plea challenging his discharge from service by the Central Administrative Tribunal.

The official had cleared the Civil Services examination in 1998 and was ranked fifth in the merit list. “A promising career in the country’s most-coveted service is at stake here. We are loath to permit the respondents to give him short shrift, as they have obviously done,” said the Bench.

The Court was particularly severe in its criticism of the statement of then Joint Secretary in the Ministry that “…. I have no doubt that he [official] will blacken the country’s name…,” observing that “it appears to be utterly without foundation.”

“The shibboleth is so obviously judgmental and ex-facie defamatory that one is reminded of the Scottish adage ‘Give a dog a bad name and hang him’,” the Bench observed.

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