With just a day left before the retirement of senior IPS officer and former Andhra Pradesh intelligence chief A B Venkateshwara Rao, the High Court on Thursday provided him relief by refusing to stay the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) revoking his suspension by the state government.
A High Court bench dismissed the petition of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government seeking to overturn the CAT's order, which directed the state government to reinstate ABV in service by paying full salary and other benefits he would have accrued had he not been placed under suspension.
The High Court upheld the CAT's orders and instructed the state government to comply. It will be interesting to see what the government will do now, as only a day remains before ABV's retirement.
On May 8, the CAT issued orders setting aside ABV's suspension and instructed his immediate reinstatement. However, the government delayed action and filed a petition in the High Court on May 23, challenging the CAT's order.
The petition was heard by the High Court three days later, and the orders were issued on Thursday, a day after the judgment was reserved.
ABV was the Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) when the YSRCP came to power in the state. He was initially transferred without any posting and later suspended after a case was registered against him over alleged irregularities and service rule violations in proposals to purchase surveillance equipment.
The conflict between Rao and the YSRCP began when the TDP was in power, with the YSRCP alleging that Rao played a key role in the defection of its MLAs to the TDP when Rao was the intelligence department chief.
The legal battle between the state and Rao reached the Supreme Court and is still ongoing. The YSRCP government even requested the Union Ministry of Home Affairs twice to dismiss him from service for misconduct.
However, the Home Ministry rejected the proposal on both occasions. Rao was given a posting for a few days as Commissioner of Printing and Stationery after the Supreme Court found fault with the state government for keeping him under suspension for more than two years in violation of All India Service (AIS) rules.
He was suspended again in the same case on the grounds that additional evidence had been collected to prove his guilt.