Delhi High Court refuses to stay dismissal of IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to stay the Centre government’s decision to dismiss from service senior IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma just a month before his retirement [Satish Chandra Verma v Union of Indian and Ors]. .Verma had assisted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Based on his report, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the matter concluded that the encounter was fake..Last week, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of the dismissal order for a week and had asked the Delhi High Court to decide the matter..A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela has now held that at this stage, the order of termination does not warrant any interference as Verma is to superannuate on September 30.“Consequently, we are not inclined to stay or interdict the order of dismissal dated 30.08.2022 at this stage… It is clarified that in case petitioner is successful in the writ petition petitioner shall be entitled to all consequential benefits of his superannuation in accordance with rules,” the court said..The High Court has also issued notices on Verma’s plea directing the Centre to file its response within eight weeks and listed the case for further hearing on January 24..The matter arises out of a departmental action initiated against Verma in 2016 for giving an interview to a TV channel. He was Chief Vigilance Officer of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation in Shillong at the time.This was challenged by Verma in the High Court which allowed the home ministry to take action against him. Verma then moved the Supreme Court challenging the order..Senior Advocate Sudhanshu Batra along with advocates Suroor Mander, Sarim Naved, Bhuvan Gugnani and Kamran Javed appeared for Verma.Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, ASG Chetan Sharma, Senior Advocate Arun Bhardwaj, CGSC Harish Vaidyanathan along with advocates Piyush Gaur, Abhishek Sharma, Gauraan, Srish Kumar Mishra, Segar Mehlawat and Alexander Mathai Paikaday appeared for respondents. Senior Advocate Manisha Lavkumar along with advocate Ravi Kant Jain appeared for State of Gujarat. .[Read Order]