AP cadre senior IPS officer AB Venkateswara Rao got a big relief in the High Court against the state government which approached challenging the CAT order on May 8 to give posting to him. The Court refused to suspend CAT orders and refused to interfere.
AB Venkateswara Rao, a senior IPS officer in the DG cadre, was intelligence chief during the TDP regime. After YCP came to power, he was suspended on charges of working against the government. He has been without posting and also salaries for almost five years.
AB Venkateswara Rao was suspended twice. He has been fighting for posting for five years. As he approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for posting, it directed the AP government to lift the suspension.
AB Venkateswara Rao challenged his suspension for the second time in CAT. CAT opined that suspending Venkateswara Rao for the second time on the same charges is a miscarriage of justice. It ordered the government to immediately bring him into service and pay the amount of arrears.
Even after the Supreme Court ruled that ABV’s suspension was unconstitutional, CAT was of the opinion that the second suspension was harassment of the employee.
He was suspended by the YCP government on allegations of irregularities in the purchase of defense equipment in the TDP government. With this, he approached the CAT and the CAT upheld the suspension. So he approached the High Court. The High Court struck down the suspension of AVB.
The state government challenged this judgment in the Supreme Court. Ordering that an officer in service should not be kept under suspension for more than two years , it ordered to take him into service.
Following Supreme Court orders, the government took him into service, but after some time suspended again on the same charges. After a long deliberations, CAT said it is illegal to suspend an employee for the same reason a second time. Orders were issued canceling his suspension immediately.
CAT directed the AP government to post ABV immediately and pay the salary for the period of suspension. Earlier, the state government had recommended to the center that AB Venkateswara Rao should be removed from service permanently.
But UPSC has recommended to stop only two increments. The Union Home Ministry has said that UPSC has not recommended dismissal of ABV. This case was challenged by AB Venkateswara Rao in CAT.
As a result, the AP government challenged the order issued by CAT in his favor in the High Court. AB’s tenure will end today. AB fought a legal battle with the aim of joining the service before his retirement. Let’s see how the government reacts to the High Court verdict.
