Day after rapping Tamil Nadu, Supreme Court says ADGP’s suspension is in order | India News
NEW DELHI: A day after intensely questioning Tamil Nadu’s decision to suspend additional DGP H M Jayaram being probed for his role in an alleged kidnapping of a youth, Supreme Court Thursday found M K Stalin govt’s administrative step well couched in All-India Service Rules that governs IPS officers.On behalf of TN, senior advocate Siddharth Dave told a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan & Manmohan that Jayaram’s suspension was not influenced by Madras HC’s order to arrest him in the alleged kidnapping case, in which it was alleged that his vehicle was used to whisk away the teen from his home after his brother married a woman of another caste and her parents lodged a complaint.Dave said AIS empowers a state govt to place an IAS or IPS officer under suspension if he is being investigated or facing trial in a criminal case. “We did not want to give the impression that the law will be applied differently to high-ranked officers. Once the probe is complete, and depending on its outcome, a decision will be taken on whether to continue the suspension or revoke it,” he said.On nudging of the bench, Dave took instructions from state govt and told the court that TN would have no objection if the probe into the case is transferred from local police to CB-CID. The bench also ordered for transfer of investigation to CB-CID.While staying the HC order for action against Jayaram, the bench said though it would not interfere with the suspension order, it was open to the IPS officer to challenge its legality in an appropriate forum. It also requested the Madras HC chief justice to assign hearing of the cases related to the kidnapping incident to a judge other than the one who had passed orders for action against Jayaram.On Monday, HC’s Justice P Velmurugan directed police to arrest Jayaram saying “a strong message should go to public that no one is above law”. This order was passed during the hearing of an anticipatory bail plea of MLA K V Kuppam, who is also an accused in the case. HC had refused relief to the MLA and ordered him to cooperate with the investigation into the kidnapping case.
