Tribunal reinstates Kerala cop suspended for foreign trip

KOCHI - The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Friday stayed the Kerala government’s order that suspended Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tomin J.Thachankary and asked for his immediate reinstatement.

The state government last week decided to suspend Thachankary for allegedly going abroad without government authorisation.

The officer approached CAT here with a petition that he was being singled out and was a victim of the ongoing factionalism in the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

He filed another affidavit Thursday, saying six top officials belonging to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) also had gone abroad but no action was taken against them after they wrote an apology, but he was being victimised.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan was adamant that action should be taken against Thachankary for going abroad on leave without taking prior permission.

At Friday’s hearing, counsel for the government pointed out that the officer had gone abroad and after media reports about this, he returned and put in a back dated leave letter.

But Thachankary’s counsel argued that his client had not violated any rule of law and specifically asked the government to show the exact rule that was violated.

Thachankary was suspended after Achuthanandan found out that he had gone abroad. An inquiry determined that he had gone to the Middle East.

CAT has now posted the case for April 28.