Dinkar, Punjab Govt move HC against CAT order

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20

Three days after the Central Administrative Tribunal quashed the appointment of Dinkar Gupta as the Punjab Director General of Police, the state government today challenged the order before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, claiming the impugned judgment proceeded on “irrelevant considerations”, displayed “lack of objectivity and fairness”, and was “filled with surmises and conjectures.” Gupta, too, moved the High Court against the order.

The petitions are scheduled to come up for hearing on Tuesday before the Bench of Justices Jaswant Singh and Sant Parkash. Appearing before the Bench of Justices Rajiv Sharma and Harinder Singh Sidhu this morning, Punjab Additional Advocate-General Rameeza Hakim requested the case be listed for hearing on Tuesday after citing security concerns.

Hakim told the Bench there was no DGP, Punjab was a border state, January 26 was round the corner and there were security concerns. Taking note of her submission, the Bench accepted her prayer and allowed the listing of the case for hearing on Tuesday.

The state, in its application for staying the operation of the CAT orders, added the police force, as a consequence of the impugned judgment, was without a head. Such a scenario was “imminently dangerous to the security situation of Punjab”.