Top cop wants upgrade,CAT probes its limits

With a query if it can direct the state government to upgrade the Annual Confidential Rating (ACR) of an officer,the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has adjourned the hearing on the petition of IPS officer Rajnish Rai till October 17.

In his petition,Rai has challenged the downgrade of his ACRs for the period between April 1,2007 and August 22,2007 from “Very Good” to “Average” by the state authorities. In his petition,Rai has made serious allegations against his then superiors,O P Mathur and P C Pande,saying the two acted against him while holding a grudge for the “exemplary” role he played in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case which he was probing. He had also demanded that the adverse remarks recorded in his ACRs by Pande be expunged.

Recently,the state government ordered to expunge the adverse remarks against him in which Pande had said that Rai never kept his superior officer posted with the progress of the investigation carried out by him. The order was also intimated to him.

A state government counsel at the CAT said the matter was taken up for hearing on Tuesday. During the hearing,Rai demanded a direction to the state government to upgrade his ACRs from “Average” to “Very Good” for a particular period. However,the tribunal raised the query if it had the power to order up-grade of an officer’s ACRs,which is generally done by a departmental committee of the state government.

The state government counsel said the final hearing has been kept for October 17.