Delhi High Court upholds dismissal of former IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a batch of petitions filed by former IPS officer Satish Chandra Verma challenging his dismissal from service just a month before his retirement. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order after having reserved it on March 1, 2023. .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 had concluded that the encounter was fake..In a detailed judgement, the Court said that Verma has not denied that he spoke to the media without any permission or authorisation. The Bench noted that Verma has also not denied the fact that he spoke about the Ishrat Jahan encounter and issues that were not within the sphere of his duties as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO). "Clearly the interaction with the media was not in the Bonafide discharge of his duties as CVO NEEPCO. He also did not specify that the views expressed by him were his own and not that of the Government," the Court said. It added that Verma's case does not fall within the category of cases where the findings returned by the Inquiry Authority are based on no evidence. "Further, in view of the fact that the Petitioner has not been able to show any procedural irregularity or violation of the principles of natural justice and fair play, we do not find any reason to interfere with the findings returned by the Inquiry Authority or the order passed by the Disciplinary Authority," the Bench concluded. .On September 26, 2022 the Court had refused interim relief to Verma holding that at that stage, the order of termination did not warrant any interference as Verma was 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 had said.The order was challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court, while refusing to stay the order, asked the High Court to dispose of the case within three months. .The matter arises out of a departmental action initiated against Verma in 2016 for giving an interview to a TV channel. He was CVO of the NEEPCO and posted in Shillong. It was Verma's case that he was only clarifying the accusations made against him by the CBI while probing the Ishrat Jahan case. However, the Government argued that Verma's statements in the interview had the effect of an adverse criticism of encounter and were capable of affecting the relationship of State of Gujarat and the Central goverment as well as India's relations with the neighbouring country. He was charged with providing information into investigation in the Ishrat Jahan case and the information about interrogation of a senior officer in connection with the case. It was further alleged that Verma gave out personal details of officials dealing with the case at the Ministry of Home Affairs and State levels and "in-house procedures in dealing with sensitive case wherein foreign terrorists were involved which has the ramification to personal safety and issues relating to national security.".Senior Advocate IH Syed with advocates Rahul Sharma and Suroor Mander appeared for Satish Chandra Verma. Senior Advocate Arun Bhardwaj, Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar and advocates Abhishek Sharma, Gauraan, Nishant Bahuguna, Srish Kumar Mishra, Sagar Mehlawat, Alexander Mathai Paikaday appeared for the Central government. Advocate Kumar Parima appeared for NEEPCO. Senior Advocate Manisha Lav Kumar and Advocate Ravi Kant Jain appeared for the State of Gujarat. .[Read Judgement]