ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Orissa DGP's transfer stayed

In a significant order, the Cuttack bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal today stayed the transfer of Orissa Director General of Police Dilip Kumar Mohapatra till September 24.

The interim stay was granted by a division bench comprising CAT vice-chairman Somnath Som and judicial member G Narasingham on a petition filed by the DGP challenging his transfer order issued by the state government.

Mohapatra, who was reverted back to the post of additional director general by an order of the government on September 4 on the plea that the central government had not approved a third DGP post for the state, challenged the order saying that no time limit was fixed by the state government while giving him promotion as the DGP six months ago.

Meanwhile, state Chief Secretary Sahadev Sahoo today approached the Election Commission for the second time to obtain its seal of approval for the DGP's transfer.

Earlier, the Commission had rejected the state government's proposal to transfer the DGP, saying that he be allowed to continue in his post till completion of the election process on October 10. After the preliminary hearing, the CAT issued notices to the centre and the Orissa goverments to show cause as to why the reversion order of Mohapatra should not be quashed.

Adjourning the hearing of the case till September 24, the division bench directed the respondents to submit their counters, by then.

The petitioner, who was reverted back to the post of ADG (home guards and fire services) following the recent killing of a Muslim trader and a Catholic priest in the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district, asked CAT to quash the illegal order of his transfer.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report