Himachal High Court reserves decision in PIL regarding the posting of tainted officer
Himachal Pradesh High Court reserved the decision into Public Interest Litigation challenging the posting of tainted IAS and HPS officers by the government.
A division bench of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua reserved its verdict after hearing the case of Sher Singh versus the State of Himachal Pradesh PIL on October 5.
The PIL was filed before the high court by Drug Inspector Sher Singh in 2010. During the pendency of this case, the court passed orders in the PIL not to post the tainted officers on sensitive posts and had also given orders to take departmental action against all the tainted officers in a time-bound manner and place the information before the court.
HC has taken cognizance of the issue of tainted officers working on sensitive posts in the government.
The court, in its previous orders, had directed the Chief Secretary to file an affidavit disclosing the status of the departmental proceedings initiated against all the officers with tainted images.
The court had also directed him to file a chart in a tabular form, disclosing the names of the officers. It was necessary to mention the current status of the accused and the stage of proceedings against them as well as the final action taken thereon.
In its previous order, the court had also directed that the government should tell through an affidavit whether such officers with tainted images are holding any sensitive post. In 2014, the state government submitted a list of 43 tainted officers posted on sensitive posts to the court.
On January 8, 2014, the state government informed the court that all the tainted officers had been removed from sensitive posts.
