Indefinite Suspension Not Permitted; Consider Reinstatement Of Tihar Jail Officials Suspended In Unitech Case: Supreme Court

Dealing with an application filed in the Unitech case, the Supreme Court today directed the competent authority to decide within 4 weeks the issue of reinstatement of 32 Tihar jail officials, who were suspended pursuant to its 2021 order for extending undue help and assistance to ex-Unitech promoters Sanjay Chandra & Ajay Chandra while they were in jail.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order, saying that indefinite suspension cannot be permitted as it causes significant loss to the public exchequer. It was further observed that the concerned officials have remained under suspension for over 3.5 yrs.The issue of reinstatement of the concerned officials shall be considered by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis, the Court said.To recapitulate briefly, in August, 2021, the Court directed shifting of Chandra brothers, who were in custody in a money laundering case involving Unitech company, from Tihar to Mumbai's Taloja jail, after an enquiry report of the Enforcement Directorate revealed that they had been engaging in several illegal activities within the jail with the connivance of certain officials. At the same time, the Court ordered the Delhi Police Commissioner to carry out a probe against the Tihar jail staff on the basis of the ED report.In light of the report of the Delhi Police Commissioner, on October 6, 2021, the Court directed that officials who were prima facie found to have connived with the Unitech accused be placed under suspension (pending enquiry).Pursuant to this order, one Chetram Meena, Assistant Superintendent (Jail), who joined the Delhi Prison Department in 2009, was suspended w.e.f. October 13 under Rule 10(1) of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965. An FIR was also registered against the complicit staff under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC.In 2023, Meena filed the instant application and claimed that he had no interaction with the Chandra brothers regarding any court case (or any other matter) during the 25 days that he was posted in Tihar jail while the Chandra brothers were lodged there. It was further stated that in May, 2023, he wrote to DG (Prisons) seeking reinstatement and revocation of his suspension, however, neither was he reinstated nor any response received. Thereafter, in July, 2023, Meena's suspension was extended by a period of 180 days.Aggrieved by the protracted and indefinite suspension of more than 3 yrs, Meena approached the Supreme Court in 2023, raising the following contentions:(i) Indefinite suspension of government employees infringes upon their fundamental right of life, liberty and livelihood;(ii) The suspension has been extended from time to time without any application of mind. It ought not to have continued beyond 90 days from 13.10.2021 in terms of the law laid down in Ajay Kumar Choudhary v. Union of India & Anr. and State of Tamil Nadu v. Promod Kumar, IPS and Anr;(iii) The investigation has been carried on for over 2 yrs but, till date, no chargesheet has been filed by the Delhi Police.Besides the above, he countered the allegation that two persons, stated to be employees of Unitech, wrote to each other on Whatsapp that they talked to him.Appearance: Senior Advocate P Chidambaram alongwith Advocate Akshat Gupta (for applicant-Chetram Meena); ASG Aishwarya Bhati [for NCT of Delhi and DG (Prisons)]Case Title: Bhupinder Singh v. Unitech Ltd., Civil Appeal No(s).10856/2016Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 147Click Here To Read/Download Order

Indefinite Suspension Not Permitted; Consider Reinstatement Of Tihar Jail Officials Suspended In Unitech Case: Supreme Court

Debby Jain

Tags