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2017 (4) TMI 1270 - SC - Indian LawsWhether the appellant’s displacement from the post of State Police Chief in Kerala before the expiry of his tenure of two years was justified in law? Held that: - The appellant has been accused of failure to take action against these errant police officers (rather supporting them) and unjustifiably apportioning a part of the blame on the district administration. However, it must be noted that for more than one and a half months the Chief Minister took absolutely no action on the Note dated 13th April, 2016 but just seems to have kept it in his office. Under these circumstances, it is not clear what action could be taken by the appellant or any officer of the government including the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary against the errant police officers while the matter was pending with the Chief Minister. Could they or should they have by-passed the Chief Minister? In any event, nothing has been shown to us to suggest that the Chief Minister was reminded that some action needed to be taken by him or that he should give some specific direction on the file placed before him. In our view therefore, if the appellant failed to take any action against the errant police officers, the entire official machinery starting from the Chief Minister down to the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary are equally to blame. What is more important in this context is that the recommendation to take action against the errant police officers was made to the Chief Minister and not to the appellant. The second and more serious reason for the transfer (though it is not mentioned by the Chief Minister) is to be found in the first Note dated 26th May, 2016 of the Additional Chief Secretary (Home). Perhaps for this reason, it finds only a fleeting mention in the reply affidavit filed in the Central Administrative Tribunal and in this Court, but the detailed counter affidavit elaborates this reason. The allegation has been detailed above and it is not necessary to repeat it, except to say that according to the Home Secretary, the appellant attempted to interfere in the investigations relating to the Puttingal Temple tragedy. The law has been well-settled for many years now that when an order is passed in exercise of a statutory power on certain grounds, its validity must be judged by the reasons mentioned in the order. Those reasons cannot be supplemented by other reasons through an affidavit or otherwise. Were this not so, an order otherwise bad in law at the very outset may get validated through additional grounds later brought out in the form of an affidavit. The facts and the record of the present case indicate that the Puttingal Temple tragedy and the Jisha murder were not the flash points necessitating the transfer of the appellant. The reason for his transfer was his conduct post the Puttingal Temple tragedy in not taking action against the errant police officers (but supporting them) and in apportioning a part of the blame on the district administration. The reference to the Jisha murder case was an attempt at padding up the reason while the reference to the alleged interference in the investigations by the CB-CID was a red herring or a ruse - the alleged interference was not even in the contemplation of the Chief Minster. The addition of the allegation of interference with the investigations in the Puttingal Temple tragedy is a further attempt in that direction – to somehow or the other nail the appellant. The appellant has been unfairly and arbitrarily dealt with. Under the circumstances, we are compelled to set aside the judgment and order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, the impugned judgment and order of the High Court as well as the order dated 1st June, 2016 and direct the State of Kerala to reinstate the appellant Dr. T.P. Senkumar as the State Police Chief - appeal allowed.
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