Friday, August 31, 2012

Call records: Govt challenges CAT relief to top cop in HC

The state government on Tuesday moved the Gujarat High Court against an interim order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which stayed all proceedings initiated against IPS officer Rahul Sharma for “misconduct” with regard to the submission of phone call records related to the 2002 riots.
“The state has challenged the stay order granted by the CAT to Rahul Sharma in April this year. The matter will come up for hearing soon,” said Prakash Jani,
government pleader in the High Court.
Sharma had approached the CAT in September last year after the Gujarat government chargesheeted him for alleged misconduct under Sec 3(1) of the All India Service Rules, 1969.
He was charged for not submitting the original CDs containing mobile phone call records related to the riots in 2002 to the concerned investigating officers or his supervisory officers when he was transferred to Surat from his post as DCP Control (Ahmedabad).
Immediately after the riots, Sharma was transferred to Ahmedabad from Bhavnagar and asked to assist in the investigations pertaining to the riots.
Sharma had collected records of phone calls that were made during the riots and made CDs of them, however he was soon shifted to Surat.
Sharma, in his petition before the tribunal, had contended that he was being victimised for testifying before the Nanavati Commission, which was probing the post-Godhra riot cases.
On April 3, a CAT bench consisting of Ashok Kumar and Chameli Majumdar ruled that the IPS officer was being chargesheeted by the state for his deposition before the Nanavati Commission.
It also added that Sharma enjoyed immunity under Section 6 of the Commission of Inquiry Act (CIA) which provided protection to a witness who testified before a judicial commission.
The bench had also stayed all proceedings against Sharma and restrained the Government from taking action with regard to the chargesheet.