BREAKING - Delhi High Court Rejects Former IPS Officer Satish Chandra Verma's Plea Against Dismissal Order

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the order of the Union Government dismissing Gujarat IPS Officer Satish Chandra Verma, who probed Ishrat Jahan encounter case, one month before his retirement.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva dismissed the pleas moved by Verma against his termination.

"In view of the above, we find no merit in writ petition... The same is accordingly dismissed," said Justice Sachdeva, while pronouncing the verdict. 

Though initially Verma had challenged the departmental enquiry against him, however, he moved an application before the High Court last year to amend his petition to challenge the dismissal order which was passed during the pendency of the matter.

Verma challenged the order passed by the Union Home Ministry on August 30, 2022, imposing the penalty of "dismissal from service, which shall ordinarily be a disqualification for future employment under the Government” with immediate effect. He was to retire on September 30, 2022.

The IPS Officer had assisted the Gujarat HC-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the probe of 2004 Ishrat Jahan case.

One of the grounds for dismissal includes "talking to the media which dented the country's international relations". The disciplinary proceedings were initiated in 2016 after Verma spoke to the media denying the allegations of torture in the Ishrat Jahan case probe.

Dismissing Verma’s pleas, the bench ruled that the case did not fall within the category of cases where the findings returned by the Inquiry Authority are based on no evidence.

Noting that Verma was not able to show any procedural irregularity or violation of the principles of natural justice and fair play, the court said that it found no reason to interfere with findings returned by Inquiry Authority or order passed by Disciplinary Authority.

“We may note that Petitioner had consciously impugned the order dated 30.08.2022 passed by the Disciplinary Authority directly before us by amending the pending Writ Petition (W.P.(C) 10539/2021) without availing of the remedy of an appeal to the Appellate Authority and approaching the Central Administrative Tribunal,” the bench said.

It added: “As noticed hereinabove, there is no denial to the fact that the Petitioner interacted with the press in respect of issues that were not within the scope of his duties. Petitioner has not disputed that he had interacted with the media on 02.03.2016 and 03.03.2016. It is also not in dispute that he did not have any prior permission or authorisation for the interaction. At no point of time has the petitioner disputed the contents of either the footage or the transcript. It is not the case of the Petitioner that the contents are doctored, edited or altered.”

The Supreme Court on September 19, 2022, had kept in abeyance for a week Verma's dismissal order and left it to the High Court to consider whether to continue the stay or not.  The High Court on September 26, 2022, refused to stay the dismissal. Later, the Apex Court also refused to stay the dismissal order and requested the High Court to dispose of the matter preferable within three months from November 22, 2022.

In 2021, the High Court had allowed the disciplinary proceedings to continue but asked the Union Government to not take any precipitative action. Later, an application was made by the Union of India seeking modification of the interim protection by stating that the enquiry is over and the competent authority was to pass a final order.

Thereafter, the High Court modified the interim protection and the authority was permitted to pass the final order.

Title: Satish Chandra Verma v. UOI & Ors.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 437

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