KOCHI: The Ernakulam Bench of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on Friday held the government order demoting seven DySPs as Circle Inspectors was unsustainable. The KAT also set aside the order against Ernakulam Rural Crime Detachment DySP K S Udayabhanu, Ernakulam Rural Special Branch DySP V G Ravindranath, Wayanad narcotic cell DySP M K Manoj Kabeer, Kozhikode Rural-Nadapuram subdivision DySP E Sunilkumar, Malappuram Special Branch DySP R Santhosh Kumar, Kottayam Special Branch DySP S Ashok Kumar and Alappuzha District Special Branch DySP T Anil Kumar.
The bench comprising chairman T R Ramachandran Nair and member V Somasundaran declared the exclusion of the applicants from the select list was not in accordance with the law. The court directed the state government to convene a review Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) and to dispose of the matter afresh, in accordance with the statutory provisions and findings of the tribunal.
P C Sasidharan, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that revised seniority list of inspectors of police had been prepared without publishing a provisional list and without giving an opportunity for a hearing. Hence, the orders were liable to be set aside on this ground alone.
The bench found the materials placed before the DPC and the minutes do not indicate the confidential reports of the officers have been duly considered for assessing their merit and suitability.
The procedure prescribed for considering officers under suspension, officers against whom criminal proceedings or departmental proceedings are pending as stipulated in KS and SSR have not been followed.
The exclusion of officers from the select list on account of imposition of barring increments was not sustainable in view of the provision in Section 101 (6) of the Kerala Police Act. One of the applicants before the tribunal was overlooked for promotion on account of a penalty of barring one increment of six months. The bench said that it was illegal.