Gujarat Govt. issued new suspension order on the day it received Central Govt. order revoking his earlier suspension
By Sayema Sahar,
New Delhi: In his letter to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today, IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt has drawn his attention towards the vindictive manner with which the administrative machinery of the state has once again been used to frustrate the due process of law and coerce upright and fearless officers serving in the state. Bhatt has criticized Gujarat Govt. for issuing fresh suspension order on the day the Central Govt. revoked his earlier suspension.
IPS officer Bhatt has urged Modi to immediately rescind the mala fide order “in the interest of natural justice and administrative propriety” and thereby to “display some sense of genuine equity, fairness and goodwill in your conduct as the Chief Minister and Home Minister of the State of Gujarat.”
Text of the Letter
1. I am addressing this letter to you as the Minister in charge of the Home Department of the State Government of Gujarat.
2. Your kind attention is drawn to Home Department’s Order IVo. IPS/lO- 2011/275097/G dated 28/09/2012, referred at No. 34 above. The said Order was communicated to me on the late evening of 01/10/2012. As you should be aware, the detailed proposal sent by your Home Department to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, for extending my suspension beyond the period of one year was unanimously rejected by the Central Review Committee on 06/08/2012, as it was held to be not in accordance with the All India Service (Discipline & Appeal) Rules and relevant guidelines. The decision regarding the same was communicated to your department by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs on 07/08/2012 vide their letter No. 26011/29/2011-IPS-I1 dated 07/08/2012 referred at No. 31 above. Pursuant to said decision of the Central Review Committee, the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat was constrained to revoke my suspension with retrospective effect viz. from 08/08/2012.
3. It is very apparent from the above mentioned date sequence that despite having been officially informed about the decision of the Central Review Committee on 07/08/2012, the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat served the Order of Revocation only on 01/10/2012 and thereby inordinately delayed the Revocation of my Suspension by almost eight weeks. Interestingly, in the meantime, the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat hastily issued another half-baked and absolutely tenuous Suspension Order No. ENQ/1020012/1215/G on 07/08/2012 viz, the very day on which the decision of the Central Review Committee was communicated to the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat. The said half-baked order referred at No. 32 above, issued in apparent haste and with an obviously ulterior motive was based on utterly flimsy and untenable grounds of my being in unauthorized possession of Service Weapons.
4. The sheer timing of the Suspension Order No. ENQ/1020012/1215/G dated 07/08/2012, referred at No. 32 above, and the eight week delay in implementing the decision of the Central Review Committee dated 06/08/2012, smacks of the shameless manner in with which the administrative machinery of Gujarat has once again been used to frustrate the due process of law and coerce upright and fearless officers for the sole purpose of subserving your illegal objectives and whims.
5. The Government of Gujarat is well aware that I have been a Pistol Shooting champion and have successfully represented the State of Gujarat as well as the Gujarat State Police at several All India Competitions and National Shooting Championships. Accordingly, special weapons and munitions had been issued to me from time to time for the purpose of continual practice for different competitive shooting events and the same had been duly returned to the respective issuing units on cessation of the training/competition requirements.
6. As pointed out in the above referred communications, the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat was repeatedly requested to provide adequate and fool-proof security cover to me and my family; as also to refrain from initiating or continuing with any irregular and unlawful coercive measures aimed at irreparably jeopardising my security by dispossessing me of service weapons duly issued to me as an officer of the Indian Police Service for my personal protection. As conveyed to the Home Department on several occasions, I am required to undertake frequent road journeys across Gujarat to attend court and other proceedings. My repeated requests for provision of a Bullet Proof Car and an Escort Vehicle for my protection during all road journeys within the State of Gujarat have yet to receive any response from the Home Department. Similarly, all my requests for designating a Nodal Officer for coordinating the security arrangements for me and my family members as and when we are required to travel outside the State of Gujarat have also been conveniently ignored by the Home Department.
7. I believe that I do not need to elaborate to you the source and nature of threat to me and my family. It is indeed very distressing that till date, my genuine requests for provision of adequate and fool-proof security cover have not received any response from the Home Department of the State Government of Gujarat. There has also been no let-up in the efforts of the Home Department of the State Government to irreparably jeopardize my security by continuously striving to even dispossess me of my license weapons. In an unprecedented display of vindictive pettiness, the Home Department of the Government of Gujarat has now deviously sought to place me under renewed suspension on flimsy and fatuous grounds of being in possession of Service Weapons, which I am officially entitled to possess; especially so when the State Government under your stewardship has been intentionally disregarding my repeated requests for provision of adequate and fool-proof categorized security cover for myself and my family members.
8. In view of the above facts and circumstances, you are requested to direct the Home Department of the State Government of Gujarat to forthwith desist from behaving in such petty and vindictive manner and refrain from taking any coercive steps or vindictive measure which would jeopardize my security as well as the safety and security of my family. It would also be in the interest of natural justice and administrative propriety to immediately rescind the mala fide Order No. ENQ/1020012/1215/G dated 07/08/2012, referred at No. 32 above, and thereby display some sense of genuine equity, fairness and goodwill in your conduct as the Chief Minister and Home Minister of the State of Gujarat.
