HYDERABAD: The Central Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to respond as to why it suspended IPS probationer KV Maheswara Reddy from service.
The Home Ministry recently suspended the offer of appointment of trainee IPS officer Maheswara Reddy when a dowry harassment case was registered against him by his wife Birudala Bhavana in Jawahar Nagar police station in the city. The suspension order was issued days before the trainee IPS officer was to join the SVP National Police Academy.
The matter came up before the tribunal bench comprising administrative member BV Sudhakar. The petitioner’s counsel contended that Maheswara Reddy had already completed his basic IPS training and was also given probation, hence he should be treated as an IPS probationer who will be governed by the All India Service Rules. As per provisions of the Rules, there is no provision to suspend the offer of employment. In fact, the Rules allow authorities concerned to suspend an employee only if there is a criminal case pending against him and he is in police custody or judicial remand for more than 48 hours.
He argued that none of these situations applied but the authorities took the decision unilaterally.
After hearing the case, the tribunal directed the Ministry to respond on the issue and posted the matter to Wednesday for further hearing.