T’PURAM/NEW DELHI: After delaying the inevitable for a fortnight, the state government on Friday reinstated T P Senkumar as the state police chief in accordance with the Supreme Court verdict on April 24. Though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan signed the government order in this regard, it will be issued on Saturday.
“I have not received the order yet. I will take charge after getting the order,” Senkumar told Express. He is likely to take charge on Saturday itself.
DGP Loknath Behera, the current state police chief, will be given full charge as Director, Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau - a post he was holding after the government asked former VACB chief Jacob Thomas to go on leave. The government perforce has to reinstate Senkumar after the SC came down heavily on the Pinarayi regime while dismissing its clarification petition.
The government submitted the petition last Wednesday seeking clarification in the appointments of Loknath Behera, Jacob Thomas and N Shanker Reddy as these three officers were posted through the same order that removed Senkumar from the post of state police chief on June 1, 2016.
The SC will consider the contempt of court petition filed by Senkumar against the government on Tuesday. The SC on Monday will consider the review petition filed by the government.
SC blow
The SC sought response of the Kerala Chief Secretary on a contempt plea filed by Senkumar. A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notice to Chief Secretary Nalini Netto and fixed May 9 for hearing. The court also imposed `25,000 on the Kerala government as court expenses.
The state government had filed a separate clarification plea on the Supeme Court’s April 24 judgement reinstating Senkumar. Dushyant Dave, appearing for Senkumar, told the bench the government has mocked the SC judgment.
Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Kerala Government, told the court the process to reinstate Senkumar was going on and the government had filed a review petition.
“That is not an argument. We will see the review petition when it will come up for hearing. We are dismissing it (the plea) with costs. We are permitting them to withdraw it with a cost of `25,000,” the court said.
The Supreme Court bench said it had not gone into the allegations of malafide raised by Senkumar but the state confirmed the same by filing such an application.