HC dismisses CAT order setting aside IPS officers appointment

The Calcutta High Court today struck down a Central Administrative Tribunal order that had set aside the appointments of five IPS officers to the post of Director General of Police in West Bengal, including the present DGP of the state.
A division bench of Justice Asim Kumar Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee, while setting aside the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order, observed that the selection process of the five DGPs had been proper.
The bench observed that the candidature of petitioner Nazrul Islam, a fellow IPS officer who joined the service in 1981, did not fall under the considering zone of the selection committee.

It also observed that the presence of West Bengal Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee, which was questioned by the petitioner, was that of a mere record-keeper and that the selection of the main three committee members by the state government was done in a proper manner.
The Tribunal, acting on a petition by Nazrul Islam challenging the denial of promotion to the post of DGP, had on February three set aside the appointments.
The five officers were: West Bengal DGP G M P Reddy, Ravinderjit Singh Nalwa (DGP Homeguard), Vijay Kumar (DGP Enforcement), Anil Kumar (DGP Armed Police) and Raj Kanojia (DGP Coastal Security).

Nazrul Islam claimed in his petition that a selection committee that had sat on December five, 2012, to decide the promotions, had illegalities in its constitution.

It was also claimed in the petition that the persons who had sat in the committee had not acted in accordance with the rules for the selection process.
The Tribunal had directed the state government to set up a fresh selection committee which was to consider all those eligible as on December five, 2012, afresh.
This was to include Nazrul Islam, who is at present in the rank of ADG, the CAT order said.

Nazrul Islam, who was sidelined by the then Left Front government in West Bengal, had been taken to the Railways by Mamata Banerjee when she was the Railway Minister.
He was brought back to the state after Banerjee took over as the chief minister.
The IPS officer reportedly earned displeasure of the present government and is at present posted as ADG, Provisioning.
He moved the CAT after he was allegedly not considered for promotion.
The officer is scheduled to retire from service on February 28.