Bengaluru: A month after the Bengaluru stampede, which left 11 people dead, chief minister Siddaramaiah and his government are still facing some tough questions.
On Thursday, the Karnataka High Court sought an explanation from the state government over the suspension of five police officers in connection with the June 4 tragedy outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium when lakhs arrived to watch the felicitation of first-time IPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Asking whether a milder action — like transferring them to other posts — may have been more appropriate, a bench of Justices SG Pandit and TM Nadaf said the state will have to “justify whether it was proper to keep the officers under suspension, or, whether shifting them to another post would have been sufficient?”
After the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) quashed IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash’s suspension on July 1, the Karnataka government challenged that order.
The tribunal termed the state’s suspension order “mechanical” which was not supported by sufficient material, it directed the government to “immediately” reinstate Vikash. The tribunal also suggested that the government extend similar relief to the other four officers who were suspended, including then-police commissioner of Bengaluru B Dayananda.
Advocate general Shashikiran Shetty, who appeared for the state government, on Thursday urged the court to stay the tribunal’s order, saying that it had acted in haste and also overstepped in suggesting the remaining four officers, who were not even parties before it, be reinstated.
Shetty submitted the state was ready to show the court all five officers who had been suspended were guilty of ‘dereliction of duty.’
“I will be able to show from the records that the suspension order was justified,” Shetty added.
Shetty pointed out that a day after the tribunal granted Vikash relief, he reported to duty in his uniform on July 2 without waiting for any formal order from the state reinstating him.
The high court said it will next hear the matter on July 9 and directed Vikash to show restraint and not precipitate the matter any further until the next hearing.