The Ernakulam Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday directed the CBI to review its order to suspend two CBI inspectors, S Unnikrishnan Nair and K K Rajan, whose names were mentioned in the suicide note allegedly written by CBI ASP Haridath, who probed the Sampath custodial death case.
The Bench comprising judicial member Justice P R Raman and administrative member K George Joseph passed the order while disposing of a petition filed by the officials seeking to quash the suspension order and the memo of charges against them. “The CBI passed the suspension order on July 17 last year. An order of suspension is not valid after 90 days unless it is extended after a review within 90 days. It is not clear whether the orders are valid as of today,” the bench observed.
The orders against the CBI officials should be reviewed in the light of the observation of the tribunal.
If the CBI has decided to continue the suspension, a detailed order duly considering all relevant aspects should be issued and communicated to the petitioners. During the period of suspension, the headquarters of the officials had been Guwahati and Kolkata. However, the Bench held that the petitioners’ headquarters should be in Kerala during the period of departmental inquiry so as to defend it properly. This will not put the government to any extra expenditure like granting travelling allowances, it said.
The bench pointed out that the suspension is a temporary deprivation of office. Though suspension is not a punishment, it inflicts mental agony and hardship to the employee. The order should not be passed without considering the guiding principles.
The suspension orders against the officials should be revoked if the suspension need not be continued, the Bench said. The petitioners submitted that the memo of charges were issued on the basis of documents produced at the tribunal by the petitioners.
“The higher officials of the CBI Thiruvananthapuram Unit and others are out to wreak vengeance against them because of their stubbornness in the investigation of the Sampath case,” the petition said.
The CBI submitted that the petitioners adopted unfair and unprofessional methods in the violation of the standing instructions and resorted to stealth recording of telephonic conversation held with senior supervisory officials.
The petitioners submitted that they were compelled to record the telephonic conversation owing to repeated intimidation while investigating the Sampath case and established the role of the two IPS officials in the case. The Bench declined to interfere in the inquiry against the petitioners based on the memo of charges.