Police chief may review suspensions

Police commissioner D N Jadhav

TOP PRIORITY

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Newly-appointed police commissioner D N Jadhav is likely to order the review the suspension of over 400 police personnel in Mumbai. Those who have been under suspension for over two years for minor default could be reinstated.

Jadhav who took charge on March 2 is learnt to have taken the case history of suspended police personnel and would ask for a report from the competent authorities. “A lot of policemen are under suspension. I will take review of the suspended policemen’ tenure in suspension, nature of default and the report of departmental inquiry in their cases,’’ said Jadhav.

Police sources said that the competent authority has power to revoke the suspension of a policeman. Those who have power to suspend police personnel include police commissioner, joint commissioner, additional commissioners and deputy commissioners. An assistant commissioner of police can reprimand a policeman, but cannot suspend him.

At present around 400 police personnel are under suspension and are entitled to get 50% of their salaries. Recently, assistant inspector Tushar Kadam of the Kherwadi police station was suspended for flying to North India on an air ticket of the Kingfisher airline. The ticket was said to be one of the 15,255 tickets allegedly booked fraudulently by a group of over a dozen people who have been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Another example is that of inspector Sudhakar Pujari of the Khar police station who was suspended for approaching the Supreme Court without “prior permission’’ of his superiors. Pujari has played a vital role in the multi-crore MPSC scam.

A major number of suspended police personnel is that of “corrupt police personnel’’ arrested by the anticorruption bureau. Last year itself, as many as 29 policemen were arrested on corruption charges and suspended. However, the reinstatement of such police personnel can be done only after their case is over. While the anti-corruption bureau needs prior permission of a competent authority to prosecute a corrupt government employee, the procedure is lengthy enough and takes time to be sanctioned. As a result, number of policemen suspended on corruption charges is increasing since hundreds of them are still waiting for their cases to be over.

According to Jadhav, the grounds of suspension of cops will also be in the review report. “We will see the ground on which a policeman was suspended, the seriousness of the charge, the status of departmental inquiry and take any decision,’’ added Jadhav.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, March 7, 2007