New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s decision to stay for a week the dismissal of a senior IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma has come as a setback to the Central Government. It was Verma who had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan case of 2004 in Gujarat. He inquired about the case between 2010 and October 2011.
Just before his retirement, Verma who was to retire on September 30 was dismissed from services on August 30. A bench justices KM Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy permitted Verma to approach the Delhi High Court challenging his dismissal. The bench said that the high court would consider the question as to whether to stay or vacation of dismissal order to continue.
The apex court said that it was of the view that in the facts of this case, the interests of justice require that order passed by the respondent dismissing the appellant is not be implemented till one week from today. Verma moved the Supreme Court after the high court had allowed the Home Ministry to take action against Verma, since a departmental inquiry proved the charges against him. One of the charges against him was that he had interacted with the media when he was the chief vigilance officer of the North Eastern Power Corporation.
On the grounds of the evidence provided by Verma, the Special Investigation Team held that the encounter had been bogus.
