CAT notice on appointment of IPS officer Amitabh Thakur’s enquiry officer

The UP government had suspended Thakur on July 13, and had appointed the enquiry officer the next day. Thakur had challenged this order saying as per Rule 8(6) of the All India Services Discipline and Appeal Rules, an enquiry officer can be appointed only after hearing from the officer ‘in person’, under Rule 8(5).

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“There has been an utter violation of rules as I was not given an opportunity to get heard ‘in person’. I wanted to meet the Chief Minister and present my case before him but the meeting was turned down. Rules state that after being heard in person, a decision should be taken on whether to drop the charge or proceed with an inquiry; but here, the process was completely bypassed,” Thakur said, adding that both the state and Centre have been asked by the CAT to respond on this issue. In his case, the chargesheet was issued on July 13 and received by him on July 15, but even before Thakur submitted his reply on July 16, the state government had already appointed the enquiry officer “in violation of the rules”.

The UP government had suspended Thakur within hours of approaching the Union Home Ministry seeking a CBI probe into the rape case slapped against him. The officer had stirred a political storm by releasing the text and audio of the conversation purportedly carrying Mulayam’s voice, where he could be heard threatening him.