Tripura High Court Allows State Govt To Give Suitable Posting To DM Involved In Conducting Raids At Wedding Halls

Noting that an inquiry in the matter has been concluded and related reports have already been submitted before the Court, the Tripura High Court last week gave liberty to the state government to give suitable posting to Dr. Sailesh Kumar Yadav, IAS who had raided two wedding halls in Agartala as a District Magistrate in April 2021.

"In view of the fact that the inquiry has been concluded and reports by the original three-member committee and one-man committee have already been submitted before this Court and the apprehension of any interference in course of the inquiry no longer subsists, we grant the prayer made by the State and we allow the interim application granting liberty for the posting of the D.M. in any appropriate place," the bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice S. G. Chattopadhyay ordered.

It may be noted that in April 2021, the West Tripura District Magistrate Shailesh Kumar Yadav had forcefully stopped two wedding ceremonies allegedly being held in violation of the night curfew in place to check the spread of Covid-19.

Thereafter, hearing a PIL filed in the case, on May 3, the Court had, as an interim measure, issued direction to transfer him out of Agartala so that an impartial fact-finding inquiry regarding the incident and the role played by the D.M. could be conducted.

The Tripura High Court had also observed that taking men, women, and children to the Police Stations and detaining them for about 2 hours is a very serious matter.

Importantly, a two-member inquiry committee was constituted by the State Government under an order dated 28th April 2021 passed by the Secretary, Government of Tripura and it included a former District Judge.

However, the Court decided not to make the report public and further asked the Inquiry Committee to carry out further inquiries in relation to certain aspects which have emerged from the report.

Further, the Court had appointed a one-man committee chaired by Sri Bamdeb Majumder, retired District and Sessions Judge, to carry out a further inquiry into the matter and submit a report, the said report was submitted in October 2021 in a sealed cover.

Against this backdrop, the Advocate General submitted that since the requirement of the D.M. to be transferred was the pendency of the inquiry and the inquiry in the meantime has been concluded and reports have been submitted before the Court, the State may be allowed to give DM suitable posting in view of a shortfall of officers for necessary postings.

In view of this, giving the liberty to the State Government to transfer and post him as per the requirement, the Court directed the state to instruct the IAS officer not to in any manner intimidate and/or involve himself against the persons who have made complaints and against witnesses who may have given evidence before the inquiry officer.

Click Here To Read/Download Order