Supreme Court quashes Himachal Pradesh High Court order removing Sanjay Kundu IPS as DGP

The Supreme Court on Friday restored senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjay Kundu to the post of the Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh [Sanjay Kundu v. Registrar General High Court of Himachal Pradesh]..A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra quashed a Himachal Pradesh High Court order directing that he be removed from the post of DGP.Pursuant to that, the State government had removed him as DGP and posted him as the Principal Secretary of Ayush. The bench opined that it was not appropriate for the High Court to have passed such a drastic order without allowing the police officer to first defend himself."The consequences of shifting out an IPS officer as DGP are serious. Such an order for transfer could not have been passed without an opportunity for the petitioner to contest the proceedings against him and let him file his response ... (the High Court order) suffers from a parent error of Jurisdiction inasmuch as an order passed of serious consequences emanating from its directions that were not compliant with the principles of natural justice ... It would be appropriate to set aside the directions of transfer and refusal to recall the said order," the top court observed..The bench was hearing a plea by Sanjay Kundu challenging the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s recent refusal to recall its order to remove him from the post of Director General of Police (DGP) of the State.Kundu moved the top court on January 10, a day after a division bench of the High Court rejected Kundu’s application for the recall of its December 26, 2023 order. This is the second round of litigation in the matter before the top court, which had earlier stayed the High Court’s decision to remove Kundu from the DGP post and asked it to first take a call on his recall application.The High Court’s order to remove Kundu from the DGP post was passed on December 26 after a businessman alleged that he and his family had received threats due to a business dispute.Pertinently, the DGP was accused of having interfered in the civil dispute on behalf of a senior lawyer. .After the High Court ordered that Kundu be transferred out of Himachal Pradesh, the senior IPS officer moved the Supreme Court for relief, which on January 3 granted an interim stay on the High Court order. It then asked the High Court to hear Kundu's recall application. The High Court then heard Kundu's recall application and on January 9 rejected the same leading to the present appeal before the top court. .The Supreme Court today set aside the High Court order and also directed the State government to form a special investigation team (SIT) consisting of Inspector-General rank officers to probe the civil dispute in question.It added that that Kundu shall exercise no control over the SIT so constituted..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Kundu before the Supreme Court..[Read live-coverage of today's hearing]